The Forgotten Power
by exclamation
Summary: Kim wakes up in hospital to learn no one remembers the Power Rangers. With her friends convinced she's losing it, she must come to terms with not having her powers. Then, years later, the same thing happens to Tommy. KimTommy, KimJason Chapter18: Friends
1. Chapter 1

Author's note: There is a trailer for this story up on Youtube. The trailer was made when I only had a vague idea about the story, so I may well make another now that I know more about where the plot's going. The video is called Trailer: The Forgotten Power.

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Kim hurt. She wasn't sure she wanted to open her eyes with the way every part of her body was somewhere between aching and agony. Her head felt foggy and she couldn't remember getting hurt. At least she was lying somewhere vaguely comfortable, which suggested she wasn't in a cage in Rita and Zedd's palace.

She came to the conclusion that answers were worth the risk of what she might see.

She was in a hospital room.

"Kim?" A familiar voice. She turned her head slightly and saw Jason sitting beside the bed. Her brain was working well enough to tell her that shouldn't be happening.

"What are you doing here?" she asked. Her throat was really dry and the words came out as a croak. Jason poured her a glass of water from a jug by the bedside.

"Worrying about you," Jason answered, "The rest of the gang have been in and out. You've had us pretty scared."

"What happened?" Kim looked down at herself. The hospital gown didn't do much to hide her bruised and cut skin. There was a cast on her left arm, already covered in ink where her friends had written on it.

"You don't remember?" He handed her the cup, which she took in a right hand that hardly had the strength to hold it.

Kim shook her head as she gulped down the water.

"I think I'd better go get the doctor." Jason stood and headed out the door. Kim looked round. There were flowers on the bedside and a collection of get well cards. She wondered how long she'd been here. Long enough for Jason to fly back from Switzerland. Kim wished she did remember what had happened, because clearly it must have been serious. Her throbbing head and the pain through the rest of her body was telling her it had been bad.

A minute or so later a pleasant-looking doctor entered the room. He had greying hair and a reassuring smile.

"Hello, Kimberly," he said, "I'm Doctor Jacobs. How are you feeling?"

"Sore," she answered, "and confused."

"You really have no memory of what happened?" She shook her head.

"Well, you were found in the park unconscious and having suffered severe trauma, including a fracture on your arm. You were covered in blood, only some of which was your own. I suspect the police will want to talk to you when you're feeling strong enough to try and find out who did this to you."

Kim nodded.

"Will I be OK?" she asked after a brief hesitation.

"You should be fine," Dr Jacobs told her, "but you should take it easy for a while. You were unconscious for nearly two days, though we couldn't find any sign of head trauma. I want to keep you in for observation for a few at least a couple of days." She nodded again. Anything else seemed like too much effort.

"Now, we've got a few questions. Just to check everything's working alright in your head." He grinned, letting her know he was joking. He went through simple questions like her name, the president, her date of birth and things like that. Apparently he was happy with the answers, because he left and went about his duties elsewhere in the hospital.

Jason came back and told her he'd called the gang to let them know she was back in the land of the living. They were on their way to see her.

"Apparently my head still works," Kim said.

"I'm glad to hear it." Jason took her uninjured hand and gave it a reassuring squeeze. "No doubt you'll be back to your gymnastics in no time."

"I'm not sure I'll be doing any handstands for a while." She glanced at her arm.

"It'll be better before you know it." Kim returned the smile, even though she felt a long way from better.

"So, has anything earth-shattering happened while I've been here?" Kim asked.

"Not really."

"Well, what have you and guys been doing?"

"Aside from sitting here waiting for you to wake up? Billy got 100 in the last science test."

"That's definitely not earth-shattering."

"Trini's spent most of her time in here with you."

"Trini's in Angel Grove?" Kim asked. She felt extremely flattered and somewhat guilty that she was the reason two of her friends had flown back from Europe.

"Where else would I be?" Trini asked, walking in the room just in time to hear the question. She was followed by Billy and Zack.

"Switzerland," Kim answered, looking puzzled at the group who had assembled by her bedside. Her head was clearly not functioning properly because this made no sense.

"Why would I be in Switzerland?" Trini asked. Kim felt too muddled to try and sort out what was meant to be happening.

"Never mind," she said.

"It's really good to see you with your eyes open," Trini said, leaning over the bed to give Kim a hug. Kim hugged back with her good arm.

"It's just good to see you guys," Kim replied. She grinned at Zack as well.

"Jason says you have no recollection of the events which transpired leading do your current situation." Kim managed a smile at Billy's babble.

"No, I don't remember," she said. "The last thing I remember was walking home from the youth centre."

"There was half a photo in your pocket when they found you," Jason said, "The police took it and ran some tests, but they brought it back." He stood and went to a cupboard, Kim saw some of her clothes inside, but Jason took out a little piece of paper and handed it over.

Kim knew it. It was a picture of her and Tommy, one of her favourite photos of them. She had a habit of carrying it around in her bag. It had been torn down the middle, leaving her holding just the half with Tommy on, his hand reaching over the edge of the picture. There was a reddish brown mark in the corner as though someone had held it in a dirty hand. She turned it over.

Forget.

Amid the stains and smudges, that one word was written in the same brown something.

"It's blood," Jason said, "the police said the type didn't match yours. They did some DNA tests on it and there was a load of the same person's blood all over you when you were found."

"Who's blood?" Kim almost didn't dare ask.

"They don't know. It's A+."

Tommy was A+. There'd been a blood drive a couple of months ago and they'd both gone. The question that had been lurking in the back of her mind since she woke up now found its way to the front of her thoughts.

"Where's Tommy?" she asked.

"Who?"

Kim wasn't in the mood for any jokes. She'd been unconscious for two days and covered in blood that might or might not be her boyfriends. She needed answers. "Tommy," she said, "The guy in the photograph. Tommy Oliver."

"I'm sorry, Kim," Jason said, "I don't know him." The others shook heads and shrugged to indicate their own lack of recognition.

Things were just getting more confusing.

"I think I need to talk to Zordon about this," she said.

"Who?"

She stared at the four friends waiting by her bedside. "You don't know who Zordon is?" They shook their heads. "What about the Power Rangers?"

"What are you talking about, Kim?" Trini asked.

Kim was waiting for one of them to laugh and announce it was all a really bad joke, but none of them seemed about to. How could they not know about the Rangers? Or Tommy? She almost wished she could just collapse unconscious again and hope that the next time she woke up the world would make more sense.

A possible solution came to her thoughts as she remembered a time she'd been surrounded by people she thought she recognised who had no idea who she was.

"What year is it?" she asked.


	2. Gone

Kim had no idea what was going on. She hadn't travelled back in time, which was probably a good thing, but it meant her only theory was wrong. She was still hoping her friends would suddenly tell her it was all a joke. But she'd been in the hospital room for two days and it was getting even less likely.

Her friends had never heard of the Power Rangers. They had no idea who Zordon was. And no one called Tommy Oliver had ever moved to Angel Grove. It was as if everything that had happened over the past two and a half years… hadn't.

She'd searched the closet in the room and found the belongings that had been left with her. There was her communicator, which none of her friends had recognised. She'd tried to use it to contact anyone, but there were no signals and she didn't know enough about how it worked to see if that was a problem with the device, or with the rest of the world. Her morpher was also in the cupboard, but there was no power coin. The coin had been taken out of it, despite Kimberly believing that only the owner of the coin could ever remove it from the morpher. Her friends hadn't understood the significance of the missing coin. Jason had offered to lend her some money if she was short.

All this was bad enough. It was when Dr Jacobs suggested arranging a meeting with a psychiatrist to talk about the Power Rangers that Kim realised one of her friends must have told him. None of them would ever talk about the Rangers to an outsider, no matter what. There could be no doubt that something was seriously wrong.

At least she was finally getting out of the hospital today. Trini was due to arrive in a few minutes to take her back to her house. Kim's mum moving to France was something it seemed everyone agreed had happened.

Kim pulled on the clothes that had been left in the closet for her. They weren't the ones she'd been wearing when she'd been brought into the hospital, but some others that Trini had brought for her. She tucked the half photo into the back pocket of her jeans. She hooked the morpher on the back of her belt, despite the lack of coin. It just felt weird if she wasn't wearing it. The same with her communicator; it might be a useless lump of metal at the moment, but she was keeping it with her.

She still didn't have a plan for what to do now. Trying to figure out what had happened wasn't really a plan. She could go to the Command Centre, but the teleporter wasn't working any better than the communicator, and it would be a long walk.

Trini turned up as promised and Trini's dad filled out the necessary forms to have Kim released from the hospital's clutches.

"You feeling any better?" Trini asked.

"I'm still sore and confused," Kim said, "but I'm getting there."

Trini didn't mention the Rangers. She was so deliberately not mentioning them that Kim wished she would.

When they got back to Trini's house, Kim was left alone in what was apparently her room to rest. Sure enough, there were a lot of things here she recognised as her belongings. It was when she opened the closet that another shocking realisation of difference hit her. There were clothes in there that weren't pink. That alone wasn't too shocking, but there were some tops that would clash horribly with anything pink that Kim would never have worn. It had become a sort of tradition for Rangers to always wear something of their colour. Even though she would frequently mix pink with other colours, she hadn't been without it for two and a half years. Seeing orange t-shirts in her cupboard, she knew she was in a world that didn't fit with the one she knew.

There was a knock on the door and Trini poked her head round. "Do you want something to eat?" she asked.

"Anything that isn't hospital food," Kim answered.

"Sure thing." Trini returned a few minutes later with a plate of sandwiches and they sat on Kim's bed eating them. Kim smiled at the thought that there were some things about this life that were better. Aisha's parents would have had a fit at the thought of people eating in the bedrooms.

The mildly cheering thought was followed rapidly by the worry about where Aisha was now. Kim asked if Trini knew her. Was she that girl from Stone Canyon who'd been in the ninja competition a while back? So Aisha, Rocky and Adam had never come to Angel Grove either.

It seemed almost all the important events of the past few years had been connected with the Rangers and now Kim hadn't the faintest idea about anything that had happened to her.

Using the excuse of wanting a walk after being cooped up so long, Kim headed to the library. They had slides of all newspapers from the past few years. Kim view some from the dates she could remember were big attacks. No mention of them. She looked up papers that had had special features on the Rangers, including the one with the first ever Power Ranger day.

Nothing.

The whole world agreed that there were no such people as the Power Rangers.

She took the photo out of her pocket. She remembered the picture being taken. She remembered seeing it when she packed her bag that morning and smiling. She remembered Tommy so well, his smile, his eyes, the feel of his hand as he held hers.

She turned the photo over and read the one word, written in blood that might be his. Forget. How could she forget him? How could she forget the first guy she'd kissed? The person who'd saved her life over and over? They'd been through heaven and hell together. For two years, he'd been one of her closest friends, the person who always knew how to cheer her up, the person she could rely on to stand by her through thick and thin.

She went over to the computers and opened up an internet browser. A search for Tommy gave her nothing, but she didn't really expect any different. She searched for the Rangers as well and found precisely zilch. There was only one way she was going to get any answers.

She decided to wait until the following day to attempt the walk to the Command Centre. She still ached all over and it was getting quite late in the afternoon. She'd set off tomorrow morning with bottles of water and energy bars. Her friends might be worrying about her sanity, so she'd just have to prove she could be sensible in her attempts to discover the truth.

The next morning, she began her walk early. It occurred to her that she wasn't entirely certain of the way to the Command Centre, since she'd almost always teleported. Now she started trudging away, a map and a compass in her backpack just in case. Her mind wandered as she walked, thinking about her friends, both here and in some unknown other place. Were they alright? Were they somewhere else, wondering why they weren't here and why they weren't Rangers? Or maybe they had their power coins, and were frantically worrying about why Kim wasn't with them.

But that didn't make sense, since Billy hadn't got his morpher.

She wished Tommy were here. He'd be able to make sense of things.

Before too long, she was wishing that none of this was happening so she'd be able to teleport rather than having to walk all this way. She was worn out by the time she reached the Command Centre, but when she got there she immediately forgot about her tiredness.

There was nothing there. She knew she was in the right place. The shape of the hill was exactly right, but there was no building on top of it. She almost ran up the hill and then stood on the plateau at the top, looking around her at nothing. It was as if the Command Centre had never been there. She sank to the earth, tears filling her eyes.

She'd been so certain that Zordon would fix everything. He'd know how to find Tommy and he'd work out where her coin was. But he wasn't here and she didn't have the faintest idea what to do without him. She had no way of knowing where Tommy and the others were, no clue about what had happened and absolutely no plan.

She pulled the photo out of her pocket and stared at it.

Forget.

Maybe she was supposed to just accept this. Maybe that was the purpose of the message. Tommy telling her to let him go and cope with this change of circumstances.

She wished he was here again, but this time so she could yell at him for not giving a more precise message. Why couldn't he have said what had happened? Why couldn't he have left more than just one word?

One word written in blood.

Was he even alive?

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Author's Note: It's never said that only a Ranger can take their coin out of the morpher, but there's never been any evidence in the show to prove otherwise.

I've started working on another trailer for this fic. I'll put in a link when it's finished.


	3. Belief

Author's note: Delays in updating are due to my sister graduating.

I have made a second, more accurate, trailer for this story. But my computer has failed to save it nine times in a row. Most videos only fail once or twice. I think I need to get a better computer if I want to keep making videos.

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Kim was sitting in a doctor's waiting room. Not just any doctor. A psychiatrist. She'd tried to talk to her friends, tried to explain about the Rangers and about Zordon being missing. And one of them had called her mum and told her. Now she was scheduled for a preliminary assessment.

They thought she was crazy.

She almost thought she was crazy.

But she still had her morpher, her communicator and the photograph. They were proof that the Rangers were real. But the others didn't seem to realise that. They'd trusted each other with their lives, but they didn't trust her enough now to believe her.

But they didn't remember the battles they'd shared.

Right now, it didn't really matter if her friends thought she was nuts, she just had to convince the psychiatrist she wasn't. She knew all the things she'd been saying sounded strange... implausible... insane. She'd hardly slept the night before, calculating just what it would be safe to say and worrying about being locked away if she said the wrong thing. She sat there in the waiting room, still worrying.

At last, the receptionist called her name. This was it. Kim had faced monsters horrific beyond imagination, but she'd never been so scared as she was now. It took all her courage to go and open the door.

Dr Walker's office wasn't quite what Kim had been expecting. There wasn't the couch that every TV show she'd seen convinced her would be there. Instead, there were a couple of comfortable chairs. Dr Walker was a pleasant woman, smiling gently at Kim and offering her one of the seats. Kim sat stiffly as Dr Walker sat across from her, a notebook and pen in her hands.

"Please try to relax, Kimberly," Dr Walker said, "I don't bite." But relaxing was easier said than done. If her friends all thought she was nuts, what hope did she have convincing this stranger.

"You've been through a very traumatic experience, Kimberly. More than just your body was hurt and you need to talk about it if you can start to heal."

"How can I talk about it? I don't remember what happened."

"That suggests some deep psychological trauma. Perhaps your subconscious doesn't want you to face the memories. Are you scared because of your attack?"

"No," Kim answered, "just confused. I don't think I'm scared to find out what happened. I want it more than anything else right now."

"How about you start by telling me the last thing you remember."

"Well, I was at the Youth Centre with the guys. That is, my friends from school. Then I decided to go home, and so I walked through the park. Then I woke up in the hospital. Maybe I just got hit on the head or something and knocked out."

"Perhaps," agreed Dr Walker. She wrote something down. "Now, how about you tell me about the Power Rangers?"

"Who?" Kim tried to look innocent. This was what she'd been dreading. But even if she wasn't worried about being thought crazy, she wouldn't have talked to anyone about the Rangers. Dr Walker tried to get her to say something, but Kim acted as though she'd never mentioned them to her friends and had no idea what she was supposed to believe.

"Alright then," Dr Walker decided to try a new tactic, "how about Tommy?"

"He's the guy in the photograph," Kim said. She could talk about him without sounding out of her mind, she hoped. Besides, she had proof of his existence that she didn't mind showing to this woman.

"How did you meet him?"

"He fought against Jason in a karate competition."

"So he's strong?"

"Uh-huh. He's given me a few lessons in self-defence." She gave a slightly bitter laugh. "I guess they weren't much use."

"Have you known Tommy for long?"

"A couple of years."

"Why don't you tell me a little more about him?"

So Kim did. It would at least keep Dr Walker away from the subject of the Rangers. She didn't go into too much detail about specific events, since most of her memories clashed with what everyone else thought had happened. But there was nothing she said that sounded crazy.

At last, the appointment was over. Kim left feeling confident she'd given off the impression of a perfectly sane teenager. She was quite sure she hadn't said anything that would warrant her being taken off and put in a straight jacket.

That afternoon, Dr Walker phoned up Trini's mum. Kim overheard some of the conversation and then managed to get the rest of the details out of her with much pestering. Fortunately, Trini had come in and agreed that Kim had a right to be told what was being said about her.

Apparently she was suffering deep psychological trauma as a result of the attack. She felt vulnerable and weak and so had invented the alternate persona of the Power Rangers to help herself feel strong. As a result of being hurt by men, she had created an idealised boyfriend who was capable of protecting and caring for her.

Kim listened in silence. She waited until she was sure Trini's mum had finished and then she went up to her room without saying a word. She closed the door firmly and then sank down in front of it. She pulled out the morpher, communicator and the photograph. They were real. Everyone else could see them too; they weren't figments of her imagination.

"Kim?" Trini was outside the door. "Kim, can I come in?" Kim shifted sideways so she was no longer blocking the doorway with her body. Trini came in and sat down on the floor beside her, an arm round her shoulder.

"It was real, Trini," Kim said.

"Kim, I've never seen that guy before. And I've never heard of the Rangers. You've got to admit, it sounds unlikely."

"If it wasn't real, then where did I get these?" Kim shoved the communicator into Trini's hands.

"It may be unusual," Trini said, "but it's still just a bracelet."

"It's not a bracelet, it's… Oh, what's the point?" Kim stood, taking the communicator back and shoving it in her pocket.

"Where are you going?" Trini asked.

"To find someone who'll be able to see what this really is."

Thankfully, Billy was in the lab round the back of his house. He didn't ask her about Dr Walker. Kim was getting pretty good now at working out what her friends were wanting to ask her but feeling unsure about bringing up.

"I need you to look at this and tell me what you think?" she gave him the communicator. He looked at it for a while. "You can open it up." So he went and fetched out a box which held the tiniest screwdrivers Kim had ever seen. She watched as he opened it up and exposed the circuitry. After staring at it for a while, he ended up putting it on a microscope at a low setting so he could see it better.

"Well this would appear to be some sort of radio transmitter." He frowned into the microscope, "But there are two types of signal feeds. This one looks like it should just be a normal audio input, but I can't work out this second one. Maybe a prearranged signal that a receiver would respond to. Hmm. Maybe…" He went to his computer and typed something in, bringing up an internet search. Kim just watched him mutter to himself as he compared the diagrams on screen to the innards of the communicator.

"It looks like there's a GPS feed here. This thing would transmit really accurate position data along with another signal. It would also work as a sort of radio. Where did you get it?"

"You built it," Kim said.

She explained about the Rangers. Again. She described the communicator and the teleporter. She told him about the Command Centre and Zordon and Alpha. She told him about the other dimensions and time portals and all the other thing she'd seen.

He listened.

She'd expected him to be calling Dr Walker the minute she began, but instead he paid attention, at one point getting a notebook and taking notes. So Kim ended up telling him everything, even the things she was certain were going to sound insane.

"So," she said at last, "do you think I'm nuts?"

"I don't know," said Billy, "I just don't see where you'd have got this thing from if there wasn't some truth in what you've got to say." He looked thoughtful. "There are several theories on alternate realities, but unfortunately all of them are unproven. I could try looking into them and see if there are any that might make sense of this."

"Thank you!" Kim flung her arms around him in a hug tight enough that her plastered, left arm started screaming at her to be careful.

She was just so delighted to have something even consider the possibility that she might be telling the truth.

"OK," Billy said, "Let's assume for the sake of argument that you're right and you're from a world with an alternate past. Do you really want to know what happened? The message on the photo says 'forget'."

Kim had been thinking about that very thing for the past few days. Someone had wanted to leave her a message so badly that they'd used blood. Maybe there was a very good reason she didn't know what had happened to her. But she wasn't sure she could live the rest of her life with this uncertainty. The Rangers had been a part of her life, probably the most important part. There was no way she could just walk away from that, never knowing what had taken her from them.

"I want to know," Kim said, but Billy had seen the hesitation.

"I saw you when you were brought into the hospital, Kim. You were completely covered in blood. Whatever had transpired must have been truly devastating. Perhaps some battle where the only escape was to alter the fabric of reality. Are you certain you want to remember?"

"I need to know what happened to Tommy. No matter how bad it is, if he's..." She hesitated, struggling to find the strength to voice her greatest fear, "If Tommy's dead, I need to know. And maybe he's not dead. Maybe he's out there somewhere, looking for me. The other half of the photo must be somewhere."

Billy nodded. Then h asked more questions, trying to get the details of anything that might possibly relate to the situation. Kim could have almost cried with gratitude. Billy would sort this out. He always figured things out. If Tommy was out there, they'd find him.


	4. Discovery

The cast had come off her arm at last. She'd been told to go easy on it, but she could finally get on with practising gymnastics. There was something to be said for pouring all her concentration into physical activity; it stopped her worrying about Tommy and the others. Her arm wasn't up to handstands or bar work, but she was in the Youth Centre, practicing on the beam.

She was able to focus, mostly, forgetting the number of times she'd done this, while Tommy had been going through katas or sparring with Jason.

She worked until Jason came up to her and told her she really ought to take a break. She'd been at it for five hours straight. She found herself wishing it was school. Then she'd have something to distract herself. She remembered what Tommy had said when he'd lost his powers the first time, about keeping busy to keep his mind off it.

She could have almost laughed at her train of thought. Even when thinking about distracting herself, she came back to Tommy. She was beginning to wonder if she'd ever see him again. He hadn't tried to contact her and Billy hadn't mentioned him again since she'd given him her communicator.

She'd stopped talking about him and the Rangers. Nothing was going to convince the rest of the gang and she already had a weekly appointment with Dr Walker.

Jason bought her a smoothie and they sat down at one of the tables.

"You really shouldn't push yourself too hard," Jason said.

"I've not been able to practice for way too long," Kim replied, "I'm just enjoying being able to again. Besides, I'm way off form." She didn't mention that is was the only thing she'd found that could turn her brain off.

"You need to do something fun."

"Like what?"

"Like the dance this Saturday."

"Oh." She'd completely forgotten about the dance. If she'd been going with Tommy, she knew she'd have run through every outfit permutation in her closet and still be unsure about what to wear. Damn it! Was there nothing that didn't make her think of Tommy?

"I was wondering," Jason said, "if you'd want to go to the dance with me?"

Was he asking her out? Now Kim knew she was crazy. Jason had been her friend for years. Sure, they were close, but he'd never shown any interest in her that way. No, he was probably just asking her as a concerned friend trying to get her to do non-insane things.

He couldn't be asking her out on a date.

So why was he sitting there looking almost as nervous as Tommy had when he'd first asked her out?

"Um," she said, "I don't know. I don't even think I want to go to the dance." Which she hoped was a non-hurtful way of turning him down.

"I should head home," she said, leaving a confused Jason and a half-finished smoothie. She just needed to think, despite the fact that that was what she'd been trying desperately not to do.

She headed through the park, stopping by the lake at the place where she and Tommy had shared their first kiss. It had been weeks and he hadn't even tried to contact her. She hadn't been able to find him anywhere in Angel Grove and didn't know where else to look. It was as if he'd never existed.

Maybe he hadn't.

Her friends, who'd always trusted her completely, didn't believe her about this. Except maybe Billy, and even he had been doubtful. He hadn't said a word about it since the day of her first psychiatric appointment. It was hard to convince the others anything when a trained professional thought it was all a figment of her imagination.

She sat for a while, running things over and over in her head. Maybe she should go to the dance. Not with Jason. Not with anyone. Just to have some fun. Tommy wouldn't want her to be sitting around moping.

She pulled the photo out of her pocket and stared at the back. Going to a dance with Jason wasn't a betrayal. She wasn't cheating on Tommy. She would just be going with a friend. It was no different to how it would be if she and Trini were discussing going together. It wasn't really a date.

Beside, he'd told her to forget. It was getting harder to believe he'd come back for her with each day that passed.

Maybe she really should forget him.

It wasn't like anything would ever really happen between her and Jase.

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Billy had got a metal detector, of the variety usually used on the beech. He'd found the place where he thought Kim's Command Centre was meant to be. He still wasn't certain about any of this. It did sound insane, but the technology in that bracelet wasn't something Kim could have come up with on her own. He'd done reading into parallel dimensions but had yet to think of a workable theory.

He'd decided he'd search this place for any sign of the building she'd been certain had been here for hundreds of years.

He walked across the plateau on the top of the hill in a methodical pattern, waving the metal detector back and forth.

It beeped.

Billy checked the area and there was definitely something there. Not much, but a faint trace of metal. He got his spade and started digging.

He was exhausted by the time he found what he was looking for. He'd dug a pit several feet down with no trace of what he might have detected. At last, the spade hit something that gave a faint chink.

It was a gold coin, larger than any money Billy knew of.

It was the power coin, exactly as Kim had described it. Further, careful digging uncovered a small piece of black stone and a pale blue crystal. The three were in some sort of machine, fallen to pieces with time and wear. Billy excavated what remained: miscellaneous bits of metal, wire connectors and what might be computer components. This thing had been here for years, probably decades at least. Yet the technology level was up to modern standard at least. It was hard to be certain, since the thing had been exposed to the elements and then buried under dirt. It was impossible for him to even guess what it might have been once, but it was definitely the sign he'd been looking for.

He packed up his belongings and headed back towards town, the coin, gem and crystal in his pocket.

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Kim was back on the balance beam, practicing. She was trying not to think about Jason. She still hadn't figured out what she should say to him. Focussing on gymnastics wasn't going to help her solve the problem, but she spent most of the night before lying awake, turning things over and over in her head. At three in the morning, it was hard to believe that Tommy would turn up and put things back to normal.

Deciding to pause for a drink, Kim dismounted the beam. Then she saw who'd been standing watching her.

"Quite an impressive routine," spoke the greying man in a German accent. Gunthsr Schmidt. Kim's mind was too filled with astonishment to have any room for coherent thoughts.

"I... um... I... thanks."

"Are you practicing for the Pan Global trials?"

"I don't think I'm ready for that."

"Nonsense. Where is your coach? I would like to have a word with him about your training."

"I don't have one," Kim admitted. She was still reeling. She might be willing to believe that she was insane, since there was no way Gunthar Schmidt was talking to her.

Then he offered to train her.

It took Kim several moments to reply. This sort of thing just didn't happen. She might have dreamt, when she was little, of a great coach seeing her practice and deciding to train her, but it wasn't something she'd ever imagined would happen. These things just didn't happen in real life.

"I would love to work with you," she managed to say.

He talked about dedication, about needing to focus on her training. Nothing could be more important. Well, it wasn't like that was a problem any more. She wasn't going to get a beeping from her wrist calling her away to risk her life. She thought of all the times when she'd been summoned from whatever she wanted to be doing, dragged into battle.

For the first time in over two years, she could promise to dedicate herself to something and know that Zordon wasn't going to force her to break that promise.

She felt guilty that, for a few moments, she felt glad the Rangers weren't here.

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Billy walked into the youth centre, ready to collapse with one of Ernie's smoothies. He hadn't anticipated the length of the walk when he set of for the Command Centre.

He looked around the room and saw Kim over on the mats, practising flips under the guidance of a man Billy didn't recognise. She was too focussed on what she was doing to have noticed him, but someone else had seen him come in. Jason was at one of the tables and he beckoned Billy over.

"Who's that guy?" Billy asked.

"Apparently some famous gymnastics coach," Jason replied, "he's promised to train her for the Pan Global trials."

"That's an extraordinary opportunity."

"Yeah. I've never seen her so excited." Jason suddenly seemed to notice the dirty, sweaty state Billy was in. "What have you been doing?" he asked.

"I was looking for something to prove Kim's story," Billy said, "about the Rangers."

"What could there be to find?"

Billy showed him what had been up in the mountains: crystal, gem and coin.

"They could be anything," Jason said dubiously.

"I know. It's not exactly evidence, but it points to the possibility that there is some truth in her story."

"It's a delusion caused by trauma. You can't seriously tell me you believe her?"

Billy told him he wasn't sure, because that was the truth of it. It was all completely far-fetched. But there was no absolute proof against. Plus, there was the communicator to think of, and the photograph.

"Don't show these to her," Jason said, "Look at her, Billy. She's happy. She's happier than I've ever seen her. She hasn't mentioned the Rangers in weeks. It may be she's already forgetting the whole thing. But if you show her these, she could start focussing on the fantasy again. She's got a chance to work with a brilliant coach; she doesn't need you distracting her."

"But what if she's right?"

"And what if she's not? If she starts worrying about the Rangers when she could be here training, she'll miss out on something she's dreamed of all her life. When she gets better, she'll regret it, but it'll be too late."

Billy wasn't certain. But Jason did have a point.

Besides, the trails were only a week or so away. What he'd found could wait that long. If Kim was right, she wasn't going to forget the Rangers in that time. If Jason was right, this might be what she needed to ground her in reality again and she might forget about the whole thing.

Billy could wait.

He'd hold on to what he'd found, but he wouldn't mention them to Kim unless she spoke to him about it first.

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Author's note: There is a second trailer up on youtube, but only the start of it. My computer really doesn't want to save the end of the video.


	5. Deja vu

Tommy hurt. His head throbbed and felt as though someone had stuffed it full of cotton wool. The thoughts just weren't flowing. His side sent sharp stabs of agony through him with every breath and the rest of him just ached.

He blinked his eyes open and stared at a hospital room.

"Tommy? You're alright."

That was good to know. He didn't particularly feel alright. He turned his head slightly and saw Hayley sitting by the bedside.

He tried to think back, to see if he remembered a monster attack that had knocked him out, but his brain was fuzzy and he couldn't think straight. He settled for asking, "What happened?" and discovering his voice come out dry and croaking.

Hayley found a cup of water for him while she explained. "You were found outside the school unconscious, looking like you'd been through hell. There was no sign of attackers, but not all of the blood on you was your own. The cops and the doctors said, from your injuries, you must have put up a pretty good fight."

"I guess the karate practice was worth something then," Tommy muttered.

"You don't remember it?" Hayley asked, concerned. Tommy shook his head.

"They found a photo in your pocket," Hayley went on, "Well, sort of." She handed it over and Tommy recognised it. Kimberly. It had been from a photo taken years ago, when they were both still in Angel Grove. Someone had torn it in half, so Tommy was cut out of the picture, with the exception of his hand, reaching from the tear to hold Kim's. He turned the picture over and saw a single word, written in a reddish brown substance.

Never.

"That's your blood," Hayley told him.

"I don't remember writing it."

"Do you know who the girl is?"

Tommy nodded. "Kimberly."

"Who?"

He was surprised by the question. "I must have told you about Kimberly. We were an item back in high school. She was the first pink Ranger."

"The first what?"

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No one had heard of the Power Rangers. It wasn't just Hayley who had lost all memory of them. Tommy had talked to the others as soon as he'd been discharged from the hospital, but they didn't know anything about the Rangers. He'd looked online, but found absolutely nothing.

It was as though they'd never existed.

How could a group who'd done so much good, who were known around the world and who even had a TV show dedicated to them, just vanish?

He would have suspected this as some plot by one of the many enemies the Rangers had accumulated over the years, but no one was stepping in to take advantage of the Earth's lack of protection. He knew that if anyone did take this opportunity to attack, there wasn't much he could do about it.

Somehow, his dino gem was gone. He still had the bracelet with his communicator, but he couldn't get his morpher to activate. The bracelet had been on his wrist when he was in the hospital, but there was just blank metal where the black gem had been. Tommy didn't understand how it could just have vanished.

He'd spent four days trying to figure it out, talking to Hayley and the other Rangers, but none of them had a clue what he was on about. Connor had even gone so far as to say he wasn't a nerd, so he wasn't likely to spend his time hanging around with a teacher playing superhero games. Hayley had looked at him like he was crazy and asked him if he'd been working too hard or if he ought to go back to the hospital for more tests, just in case. Kira had used an excuse of having to go practice with her band to escape the conversation. Ethan had just looked confused. Trent had assumed Tommy had arrived at his house to talk to Anton. None of them remembered any of it.

He went back to school and saw the four of them in class. Kira and Trent were talking, but the close-knit friendship between the original three had vanished without a trace. Connor seemed barely aware the others even existed, hanging out with the cool crowd that wouldn't dream of associating with the musicians and the geeks. Everything had changed. Even Principle Randall had changed. Her hair was longer and she was actually cheerful. She was even nice.

It felt as though Tommy had blinked and the whole world had shifted.

He'd researched everywhere he could think of, but there wasn't the faintest mention of the Rangers. He'd tried to use his communicator, but there wasn't much point in that since the people who should be wearing the others weren't.

As well as that, he'd had to deal with the police asking questions to which he didn't know the answers. Not to mention Cassidy coming to interview him for the school news. She had at least brought with her a get well card signed by all his students. He'd been surprised by a visit from Anton, who'd been sympathetic and curious and who had chatted away like they were old friends.

Well, they were old friends, but Anton didn't usually behave like it was true.

Tommy sat in his study, fiddling with the communicator. He couldn't go down to the dino cave because it wasn't there, at least not as it should have been. He'd searched as found the cave entrance out in the wood, finding his way into a cavern that was just like it had been when he'd first come to Reefside. There wasn't a sign that anyone had been there in centuries, certainly none of the technology he and Hayley had built there. There was no entrance in his house, none of the work they'd done on the walls to make sure the ceiling wasn't going to fall in on them. Nothing. It was as though he'd never been here before.

So he was working in study usually reserved for grading papers, trying to find a way to learn what had happened to the Rangers. He was getting the bracelet to send a signal on every frequency it was capable of. He wondered about trying to rig up a stronger power source to see if he could get it to reach beyond the planet, but he didn't have the knowledge or the technology to try and reach Eltar, or even Aquitar.

He'd been staring at the thing for hours, failing to get any response. He was fairly sure the communicator was working, but it wasn't doing anything.

He pulled out the photo and studied that instead. Never. What did it mean? That it had never happened? That the Rangers had never been? That he and Kim had never been?

He'd written it in blood. Or, at least, someone had written it in his blood. It had to mean something pretty damn important. But he couldn't figure it out. He'd have thought if he wanted to leave a message to himself, he'd have written something longer, something that explained more. He just wished he could remember what had happened to him.

At last, he decided to try and clear his head. He'd go to the gym and run through some katas. The doctor had told him to take it easy, but he was sure the inactivity was part of what was causing him to be so frustrated. Exercise usually calmed him and helped him think. He'd work out and maybe he'd see something he'd missed. There had to be an answer to all the riddles somewhere.

He headed out of the house, his useless bracelet still lying on his desk.

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Justin headed to his room, thinking of nothing more important than the chemistry assignment that was due in the following day. He would normally have had it done by now, but there'd been a soccer match the day before and some of the guys had insisted he needed to join in the celebratory party afterwards.

Justin arrived back in his room to find his roommate, Toby, preparing to go out. The two of them almost managed to get a single room, in that usually only one of them occupied it at a time. Toby spent his nights out partying, Justin spent his days in classes. It was an arrangement that seemed to work.

"Did you leave an alarm on or something?" Toby asked.

"I don't think so," Justin answered.

"There's been something beeping for the past few hours." Justin shrugged, paying no attention. Maybe someone in the room next door had left an alarm clock set. The walls in this place were paper thin.

"It's a weird beep too," Toby went on. "Sort of... beepbeep bebeep beep beep." Justin spun round to face him, the pattern striking a memory he'd thought would never be disturbed. But Toby was already leaving, not noticing Justin's response.

Justin ran to his desk, riffling through the drawers of junk that he'd gathered over the years. Where was it? Where was it? He knew it was here somewhere.

At last, he pulled out something that looked like a watch, or maybe a bracelet. He'd kept it for all these years, never really believing anyone would contact him, but not daring to let go of the memory. Just in case.

He pressed a button on the side.

"Hello," he said cautiously, hardly daring to hope what he might here in response.

Nothing.

Not a sound. No voice. Not a flicker of a signal.

Maybe Toby had been mistaken. Maybe Justin had, and it hadn't been Zordon's signal that Toby had repeated.

He sank onto his bed, feeling stupid for that momentary spark of belief. Of course he hadn't reached anyone. He hadn't reached anyone the last ten million times he'd tried to use this thing.

The Power Rangers didn't exist anywhere outside his imagination.

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Author's note: I'm taking suggestions for where Justin might be at college. I've only been to America once in my life, so I don't really know where to say he's studying. It would have to be somewhere within a day's travel of Reefside, and somewhere suitable to his level of intelligence.


	6. Fiance

Tommy arrived at the gym and handed his membership card over to a clerk who insisted on trying to sell him tickets to a gymnastics competition. At least some things stayed constant. The competition had been in planning for weeks, the whole sports centre would be given over to it, with workshops and beginners classes as well as the main event. He'd been declining to buy tickets for about a month now, but the staff weren't taking no for an answer.

"If you want to get a look at what you're missing out on, one of the gymnasts has already arrived. Have a looked at her practicing and you might change your mind."

"Thanks for the advice," Tommy said, grabbing his bags and heading into the practice hall.

The hall was a huge space, empty except for piles of mats in the corners that users could drag across as and when they needed. There were a few bits of gymnastic equipment neatly stacked against the walls too, but mostly the room was used for floor work.

Tommy saw immediately who he was supposed to look out for. She had a section of mats set up at the other end of the hall and was running through a complex routine of flips and rolls. He recognised the style and grace of movement before he ever got a clear look at her face. Kimberly.

She finished her routine with a flourish, only then becoming aware of her audience. She saw him and all colour drained from her face. She stared at him for several long moments, the expression of shock fading to something akin to fear. She turned away, hurrying to a bag at the side of the room. It was like an animal panicking when it saw something it didn't understand. She was about to run.

Tommy rushed over.

"Kimberly," he said.

She didn't say anything, just shoved her things in her bag.

"Kim," he said again.

"You're not real," she said, staring steadfastly away from him.

Tommy was confused, concerned, surprised and so many other emotions that was quite sure how to think or react. All he knew was that the love of his life was thoroughly ignoring him. On top of everything else that had happened over the past few days, he couldn't deal with this as well. He needed answers desperately. He needed to understand.

He grabbed her arm and turned her to look at him with a little more force than he'd intended.

"I'm real, Kim."

Kim tugged, trying to free her arm from his grasp. "Let go."

"Kimberly, talk to me, please."

"Leave me alone."

"I just want to talk."

"Hey!" Tommy turned towards the new voice and was met by a fist impacting his jaw. From a position sprawled on the mats, Tommy blinked up at Jason.

"She said leave her alone."

Tommy didn't know how to respond. Jason, the closest friend he'd ever known, was glaring down at him without the slightest trace of recognition. His brain couldn't supply the right reaction.

Kim did react. She swung her bag over her shoulder and ran out of the room. Jason called after her but she didn't respond. Jason looked back at Tommy to give him one final warning, "Stay the hell away from my fiancée." Then he ran out after Kimberly.

Tommy was too shocked to even pick himself up off the ground. He stared after Jason's retreating back. Fiancee? Jason and Kim? They were engaged? How the hell did that happen? And how was it that Jason looked at him like a total stranger, after all they'd been through together?

"Hey, man, are you OK? That must have been some punch." A small crowd had gathered around him, among them a kid he'd occasionally given pointers on karate.

Tommy climbed to his feet, assuring the others he was fine. When asked who they'd been, Tommy gave an approximately honest answer. "An ex-girlfriend. And her new fiancé." He rubbed the sore patch on his jaw that would be a spectacular bruise before too long. "I think we may have issues to work on."

He left the sports centre. There was way too much to think about now.

Jason hadn't recognised him. Tommy supposed that, without the Power Rangers, he might never have moved to Angel Grove. When Rita first showed up, loads of people moved out to get away from monster attacks and so Tommy's dad had got a job. Without that, he might never have met Jason or the others. If something had happened to change history and erase the Rangers, it could have erased that whole friendship.

But Kim had recognised him.

She'd told him he wasn't real.

That meant she remembered him. That meant she remembered the Rangers. But if no one else did, no wonder it would be confusing.

He needed to find her and talk to her. He needed to know what she knew. He needed to know if there was any way to put the world back.

He headed back to his house and got out the phone book. It was a lousy option, but it was the only one that presented itself to him. He rang up every hotel, in order, to find out if they had a reservation for Kimberly Hart or Jason Scott. They had to be somewhere.

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Kim ran back towards the hotel. There were tears flowing unchecked from her eyes. Tommy. It couldn't really be him. But he'd known her. He'd spoken her name and he looked just like the boy from her memories.

"Kim?" Jason had caught up with her. Kim stopped running, but the tears kept flowing.

"Kim, what's wrong?"

She couldn't tell him. She'd spent too long trying to convince everyone she was sane. If she started talking about Tommy and the Rangers again, Jason would think she was crazy. Maybe she was crazy. She still remembered Tommy as clearly as any of her real high school friends.

She leaned against the wall of the hotel, suddenly not able to hold herself up. She had a fiancé who was kind, supportive and definitely real. Why did she keep thinking about Tommy? Why couldn't she be satisfied with the person who had always been there for her? Jason was everything a girl could want, yet she saw the face of an imagined lover in a stranger at the gym.

"Please, Kim, tell me what's wrong. Who was that guy?"

"It doesn't matter." She turned away from him, continuing her walk into the hotel. Jason followed her across the lobby and towards the elevator.

"It seems like it matters to you." Jase, always trying to be supportive, even when she wanted nothing more than to let the past die.

They walked to their hotel room, Kim not saying anything else. Once there, Jason put the kettle on to fix a drink for them both. Why did he have to be so sweet? Maybe if Jase was a bit less perfect she wouldn't feel so guilty about constantly thinking of Tommy.

"Who was that guy?" Jason asked again, a little while later. Kim didn't know how to answer. She couldn't say it was Tommy, because it couldn't possibly be Tommy. He was just someone her mind had created that she couldn't shake. But he'd known her, somehow. She didn't want to hope that he was real, because she knew that her hope would be shattered again and she couldn't bear it any more. She'd accepted that the Rangers weren't real, because the constant loss was too much to deal with.

After a while, Kim said she wanted to go out for a walk, to clear her head. She told Jason she wanted to go alone and he reluctantly agreed.

She waited until she was certain Jason hadn't followed her before finding a bench to sit out and reaching into her back pocket. The photo was severely crumpled and somewhat faded. She knew she ought to throw it away. She'd known for years. But somehow, she could never bring herself to do it. She could accept, logically, that Tommy wasn't real, but she still wanted to hold onto this final piece of him. There was a reason she had this picture and she would keep it for the rest of time, even if every kiss with Jason came with a dose of guilt because of it.

Maybe seeing Tommy was some sort of sign from her subconscious that she didn't really want to marry Jason. But she definitely didn't want to spend the rest of her life alone. And Jason had always been there, despite the craziness, despite everything. As a consolation prize, Kim couldn't hope for anyone better.

But still dreamed of a photograph.

An illusion.

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Jason heard the knock on the door and wondered if Kim had forgotten her key. He opened it, hoping to find her calmed and ready to talk. He wasn't best pleased to find, instead, the guy he'd warned away in the gym.

"I thought I told you to stay away," he said.

"I want to speak to Kimberly."

"I think she made it pretty clear she doesn't want to speak to you." Jason wondered what had happened between these two before he'd walked into the practice hall and seen this guy holding Kim's arm tight enough to hurt her. She'd looked so scared. She was so strong and capable, Jason could never have imagined seeing her so terrified of anyone.

"Let me see her." The guy had some nerve! Jason wanted to punch the guy again, give him a matching bruise on the other side of his jaw.

"Walk away now and maybe you won't get hurt," Jason said, stepping closer, glaring at the man from a distance that had to be intimidating. Instead, the man laughed.

"You're threatening me, Jason?" Jason took a second to wonder how this guy knew his name, but he gave another laugh and continued speaking before Jason had a chance to ask. "You got lucky in the gym. In a fair fight, you wouldn't stand a chance."

Jason wouldn't normally have risen to the challenge, but this guy was hitting every nerve. Jason was mad at Kim for not talking to him and this man for causing the problem. Right now, hitting the guy again seemed like a very good option.

He blocked. Jason attacked again, but this guy knew his karate. What had been intended to be a quick blow to knock some confidence out of him appeared to be turning into a full-blown karate match in the hotel corridor. It was as though this guy could anticipate every move Jason was going to make. For a minute or so, he wondered if this guy was playing with him, blocking every move but not attacking. Then came the attack and Jason wished he'd continued just defending. A series of blows and kicks Jason couldn't anticipate or prevent, and then one final kick in the chest sent Jason flying down the corridor.

That guy was good. It was as though he could see every weakness in Jason's style and exploit it. Jason looked up at him. Then he looked beyond him, to where Kimberly stood watching the fight. The guy noticed Jason's gaze and turned, standing silent for a long while, looking at Kim. She looked at both of them in turn. Jason felt kind of embarrassed at his unsuccessful attempt to defend her honour.

"Are you both quite done?" she asked. They may have been a trace of humour in her voice.

"I did come here to talk to you," said the guy, "not to beat up your fiancé." There was a bitterness in his tone on that word and Kim almost flinched at it.

"I don't want to talk to you, Tommy."

Tommy didn't seem disheartened by this. Instead he smiled. "So you do remember me."

"What is there to remember?" She wasn't looking at Tommy. Or at Jason. There were tears back in her eyes.

"How about our first kiss, by the lake, when you were comforting me about the candle? How about when I got the white powers and you were so surprised you fainted? How about when I rebuilt your float when it got destroyed? How about when this?"

He pulled something out of his pocket and handed it to her. Kim reached into her own pocket and pulled something out. She started sobbing uncontrollably. Jason had had enough. He rushed over to her and hugged her. She dropped the things in her hand and wrapped her arms around Jason, crying into his shoulder.

"Never forget," she sobbed. Tommy picked up the two pieces of paper and smiled at them.

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Author's note: OK, so I can't describe fights. I think it's fair to say that Tommy would beat Jason easily, since Tommy would remember training together and Jason wouldn't. Plus, in King for a Day, Jason says that Tommy could match him move for move.

No Justin in this section, I'm afraid, but I wanted to get the meeting of these three done.


	7. Theory

Author's note: I wrote a swearword in this section, but then couldn't remember what rating I'd given the story. So it's blanked out. But the word definitely fits the mood at that point, so I didn't want to replace it with something less severe.

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Jason didn't know what had been on that piece of paper, but he wished he did. He was at the gym, pummelling a punch bag because Tommy wasn't here to hit. Kim had gone from not wanting to even look at the guy to spending every minute with him. She was off somewhere with him, when she ought to be here practicing. She had a competition in less than two weeks and suddenly she didn't care. OK, so it wasn't an Olympic try-out of anything, but she still ought to be training for it.

Instead, she'd taken to hanging out in a cybercafé with an ex boyfriend Jason had never heard of before.

Jason felt as though he'd turned invisible or something. Kim was barely aware he existed. Whoever this Tommy guy was, he must have had a huge impression on her in the past. Jason just wished she'd talk to him.

This wasn't the first time he'd felt she was hiding something from him, but it had never been this bad before. She'd never stopped talking just because he'd walked into a room and refused to explain what the conversation had been about. Yet that kept happening, and every time he saw Kim with Tommy, he felt like he was interrupting some great secret.

Jason thumped the bag until his hands ached.

This wasn't fair!

He loved Kimberly. He had done for years. Who did this Tommy guy think he was, strolling in and trying to take his place? And Kim was letting him.

She'd looked so scared and she was definitely hiding something. Was she in some sort of trouble? Jason had always tried to protect her and he wasn't about to stop now. If Tommy was trouble, Jason would be trouble for him. He'd always taken care of Kim, even when what she needed saving from was herself. He remembered the time, back in high school, when she'd had some sort of break down. She'd rambled all kinds of crazy things and seemed to believe them.

Jason stopped.

Tommy? Wasn't that the name of the imaginary boyfriend?

It couldn't be. It was just a coincidence. It had better be. Because if that b d was sick enough to use Kim's delusions to get her trust, Jason would make him wish he'd never been born.

ooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

"It just doesn't make any sense," Kim said.

"Nine," Tommy replied.

"Huh?"

"That's nine times today you've said that."

Kim laughed. Here they were, discussing Rangers and possible enemies who could reshape the world, and he just through a joke into the conversation to catch her off guard. She'd missed this. Even when she'd forgotten she missed it, she'd known something was wrong.

"Well it doesn't," she said.

"Ten," Tommy said, with an absolutely straight face. She mock-hit him on the arm and he started laughing too.

"You two might want to tone down the flirting," said Hayley, appearing with a tray to collect their empty mugs, "or someone might get jealous." She nodded to the ring on Kim's hand. Kim looked at it. She had been flirting, hadn't she?

She'd felt guilty about still caring for Tommy when she thought he was a figment of her imagination. Now he was sitting next to her and a part of her just expected to slip back into a relationship with him, despite the gold band on her finger, the unbreakable diamond reminding her of the promise she'd made to Jason.

"I think Billy may have been wrong about the alternate universe theory," said Tommy, once Hayley had left them alone on the sofa again. "It made sense when there was just you, but I can't see how we could have somehow got moved from another reality at such different times."

"What do you think then?"

"Time travel, maybe?" He sounded doubtful.

Kim gave a shrug. It was a possibility. Zedd and Rita had both tried changing history.

"If it is," she said, "I don't see how we can put things right. Not unless you know someone with a time machine."

Tommy looked rather more thoughtful at the joke than Kim had anticipated. He looked across at the counter and waved Hayley over to them.

"Do you know anything about time travel?" he asked her.

"You don't want to pick an easier topic," Hayley grinned, "like multi-dimensional string theory?"

"So that's a 'no'?"

"I've done a bit of reading in it, but it's a long way from my field of expertise."

"OK. Hypothetical situation. Let's assume that time-travel is possible. Say someone goes back in time and changes something major."

"Like what?" asked Hayley, taking a seat on the sofa across from them.

Tommy glanced at Kim, who just shrugged. She didn't feel like trying to explain the Power Rangers to someone she'd only just met.

"Let's imagine they stopped the 9-11 attacks. Would it be possible that some people would still remember the Twin Towers being destroyed?"

"According to a completely improvable theory, yes."

"Can you tell us the theory?"

"In language I'll understand," Kim added, remembering how Billy's explanations of complex science would leave her confused almost as much as she was by the current situation.

"You have one timeline. Certain events happen. Something, or someone, go back in time and change one of the events, causing different subsequent events and creating a whole new timeline. Now, according to this one paper I read, the two timelines can't coexist. The new timeline is the dominating one and will over-write the old, but there may be traces of the old one still lingering. It would be possible for some people to remember the old timeline."

"Hayley, you are wonderful," Tommy said grinning. Kim smiled a bit too. It was a faint glimmer of understanding that in no way led to a solution, but at least it was a shred of evidence that she wasn't crazy. A few days ago, she'd never have believed she'd hear an explanation for what she remembered other than the one told to her by doctors and even by her friends.

"It's just an unproven hypothesis," Hayley said, "Dr Kingsley hasn't got any hard evidence backing it up."

"Hang on," said Tommy, sitting up straighter, "Dr Kingsley?"

"Yeah. He's the guy who wrote the paper."

"Would that be Billy Kingsley?"

Hayley thought for a moment. "I think his name was William, yes. How did you know?" But she was called away by a blond teenager on a table demanding service immediately.

"If Billy's been researching time travel," Tommy said. He didn't need to finish the sentence; the same hope had lodged itself in Kim's mind.

"I've not seen Billy since I left Angel Grove," she said, trying not to let the hope build too much. She'd been disappointed too many times. "We don't even exchange Christmas cards."

"I'm sure we can find a way to contact him."

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Tommy headed home, having dropped Kim off at the gym to get the practice she'd been putting off. It seemed the Rangers were still taking up her time, even when they didn't exist.

He'd told her about all that had happened since the time her world had changed. Well, not quite everything. He hadn't told her about the letter, or about Kat. She hadn't asked what their relationship had been. But he'd filled her in about the different groups of Rangers who had come and gone, about the dino gems, about Mesagog. She'd listened to it all in silence, but Tommy wasn't sure how much she'd taken in. She couldn't learn a whole lifetime in a few minutes.

He wondered what she'd tell Jason. She'd seemed hesitant to talk to him about the Rangers, which seemed absurd to Tommy, who still remembered Jase as the leader of the Power Team. It was hard to believe that this Jason wouldn't even remember meeting him. Aside from giving him a rather nice bruise in the gym.

Tommy went into his study, planning on looking Billy up online. If that failed, he could probably use school resources to try and find him. As a science teacher, it might be plausible that he'd try to contact people with different areas of specialisation to help with his teaching. After all, he'd gotten a volcanologist to take one of his classes.

Then he heard the muffled beeping.

He hurried to his desk, pulling open the drawer to find his bracelet in there, sitting inert and silent. He pressed the respond button.

"Hello?" he said. Nothing. Maybe he'd just imagined the beeping.

"Hello?" he said again, "Is someone there?" Maybe it had been something else making the noise and just wishful thinking that had attached it to this thing. There was dead silence from the other end. Tommy was just about to put the thing away again, when a slightly hesitant, "Hello?" came out of the bracelet.

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Author's note: Billy's surname is never given in the series, so I just made one up.

Three guesses who's using the communicator. Those who've seen the new trailer should only need two.

I've put a couple of videos up on YouTube based on this story: Reflection and I Can't Read You.


	8. Contact

Author's note: Clearly making mistakes is the way to get lots of reviews. Loads of people have told me that Billy's last name is Cranston. I hope you can ignore the mistake, since his surname doesn't really have any impact on the story.

Can anyone remember what episode his name is revealed in?

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This was stupid. No one was going to answer. Ever. Sitting here with his communicator in his hand was just going to make everyone think he was insane. Again.

This was the first place he'd been where he didn't feel like everyone around him was watching him, waiting for the moment he went crazy. People here didn't think he was nuts. The other students didn't know about the months in the care centre, locked away with the druggies and the arsonists and those who really were psycho but who were young enough to keep from being put in a real mental institute. The people here didn't know about the years of psychiatric visits. About the pills he'd taken for so long he still sometimes felt he'd forgotten something when he didn't have to swallow them down each morning.

And yet he still felt the need to sit here, obsessing about a bracelet that had become the solid hold for his imaginings. He remembered one psychiatrist who'd talked for ages about how the communicator was his link to his fantasies, and how destroying it would severe their hold on him. He'd probably have been let off the pills earlier if he'd done what he was told and destroyed the thing.

But a part of him still believed.

No matter how much his rational mind argued against it, he was still waiting for Demetria to call. He still expected to be able to shift to the turbo. He still wanted to morph and become stronger, faster more powerful.

He remembered the Rangers so clearly. Something inside him still felt that they were real. So he clung to the communicator, waiting for the day it would beep and signal him back to his true life. An eleven year old kid saving the world from aliens. Of course that was never going to happen.

He ought to shove the communicator back into the rubble in his desk drawer. He ought to forget about it. He ought to get on with the paper he had to write.

Yet still he sat on his bed, holding the communicator, sending out a signal and watching it do nothing.

This was stupid.

If Toby walked in on him now...

"Hello?" A light flashed on the side of the communicator as the returned signal was received. Justin stared at it. He hadn't really believed this would work. But despite all of the psychiatric visits, no one had accused him of hearing voices.

"Hello? Is someone there?" came the voice again. Definitely real.

If this turned out to be Toby playing a joke...

"Hello?" Justin managed to say.

This was a dream. He'd wake up any minute now and discover that this thing was just as inert and silent as it had always been. Because there was no way someone was actually talking to him over his Ranger communicator.

"Who is this?" Justin asked. It was a practical joke. Toby had found out somehow about his delusions and there was a hidden speaker under his bed and a load of Toby's friends laughing their heads off in the hall.

"It's Tommy," the voice replied, "Tommy Oliver."

"Tommy? It's Justin." Toby couldn't have known Tommy's name. But that didn't stop the possibility that this was a dream. Or that he'd gone crazy again.

"Do you remember the Power Rangers?" Tommy's voice asked.

Justin stared at the little device in his hands. He'd spent years trying to convince everyone he didn't remember, just so they'd stop thinking there was something wrong with him. To admit otherwise now could destroy all that work. But there was that little piece of himself that knew the exact motions to shift to the turbo, that listened out for monster alerts, that believed there was an alien palace hidden on the moon.

"I remember," he said.

"It's not just you," Tommy answered, "I remember and so does Kimberly." Two people who remembered the Rangers. It was more than he'd ever dared dream of. He should stop talking now, before his hopes were brutally shattered once more.

"You're really real?" It was a stupid question. Justin regretted it as soon as he'd asked it, but he was still enormously relieved with the answer.

"Yes," Tommy answered with a laugh, "I'm real."

Justin wanted to dance around the room with excitement. He wanted to break down in tears. He wanted to scream. He wanted to go to every psychiatrist who'd ever treated him and tear up their papers in their faces.

And he also wanted to put the communicator away and pretend he hadn't just had this conversation.

He'd worked so hard to get a normal life, to get into college despite his record. This would change everything. Justin wasn't sure if he was more scared of this being real or an elaborate hoax.

"I tried to find you," Justin said. "I found Cassie, but she didn't even recognise me."

"Jason didn't recognise me," Tommy said. Another familiar name. Another hint that this was in fact really Tommy, not one of Toby's friends trying to trick the nerd.

"Do you know about Carlos?" Justin hadn't seen or heard anything about Carlos since waking up in hospital and being told that nearly a year of his life hadn't happened the way he remembered. They'd been so close; Carlos had been an older brother, best friend and substitute father all rolled into one.

"No, but I haven't had much chance to look." There was a pause from the other end, then Tommy went on, "I know this is going to sound crazy." Justin almost laughed at that choice of phrase. He wondered how many times he'd used it when he tried to explain Power Rangers to people. It was nice to hear someone else say it, for a change.

"But," Tommy went on, "as far as I'm concerned, there were still Rangers a fortnight ago. Whereas Kim thinks everything changed about a year and a half before you became a Ranger."

That did sound crazy. Justin had wanted to hear a rational explanation, so he could believe what was happening without the fear that this was all just some psychotic break-down. He couldn't shake the nagging thought that he'd wake up in a straight-jacket in a padded cell somewhere, with his Dad telling him yet again that the Rangers weren't real.

"Is that even possible?" Justin asked.

He listened to Tommy's theory. Time travel. Justin could almost believe it. A part of him wanted to leap onto this thread of explanation and cling to it like a life line. The rest wanted to walk away now, while he was still in control of what was going on in his head.

"I'm going to try and get in touch with Billy," Tommy said, "to see if he can shed any light on the situation." He signed off, and Justin sat there, staring at the communicator. It had gone back to its silent state. Justin could let himself imagine that what he'd just heard hadn't happened.

He still had a chance to ignore this.

Even if it was all true, did he want to be a Ranger again? For the first time in his life, he fitted in. Tommy's message could mean the end of that. And for what? A dream that had caused him to be put on pills and ridiculed by all the other kids his age? He didn't want to go through that again.

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Author's note: I'll be putting up a video on Youtube based on this. It's called I Could Have Been Deceived.


	9. Secrets

Author's note: I've decided to go with Cranston as Billy's last name. It means it's inconsistent with what I've already written, but it should prevent the wave of reviews telling me I'm wrong.

That said, feel free to send me a wave of reviews anyway.

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Kim ran through routines her mind wasn't on. She was distracted and kept making silly little mistakes she'd stopped making years ago. She just couldn't focus on what she was doing. She kept thinking of Tommy and wondering whether things could ever go back to the way they were. If Billy found a way to shift things back, would she remember this world?

Everything was just so confusing. Running into an ex boyfriend after just getting engaged would be awkward enough. Adding altered histories and alternate realities to the mix just messed her head up so she didn't know how to react.

"I'm glad to see you're practicing." Kim looked up to see Jason standing, watching her. He didn't even attempt to hide the implied criticism in his statement. Kim's first thought was that Tommy had never nagged her about training. Her second thought was that the first thought was unfair, since she hadn't been an Olympic standard gymnast when she'd been dating Tommy.

"Where've you been all day?" Jason asked.

"I was talking to Tommy," Kim answered.

"Who is that guy, Kim?" She didn't answer. "I think I've been more than reasonable. What is going on with you lately?"

She could tell him. She could explain about the Rangers, Tommy, the photograph, Billy's time travel theory. She could let him know everything Tommy had told her. She could come clean about all the things she'd been hiding for years.

And he would think she was crazy.

"He's just an ex boyfriend," she said.

"Then why were you so scared when you first saw him?"

"It was a weird break-up, OK?"

Kim turned back to the balance beam, hoping to signal the end of the conversation. But there was the guilty little voice in the back of her mind reminding her that she'd just lied to the man she'd promised to marry. She was supposed to share her life with him, but here she was, hiding the most important part.

She hesitated, hands on the beam, knowing that she ought to turn around and apologise and offer to tell him all he wanted to hear. But she couldn't help remembering what it had been like when she'd first woken up. She'd tried to talk to all her friends and none of them had believed her. Not even Jason. He wouldn't believe her now.

"I'm not asking much of you," Jason said.

"I know," she almost whispered. She turned back to him. "I will tell you everything. I promise. Just give me a little time."

"Alright," Jason gave a little nod and stepped towards her. He put a hand on her arm, comforting and accepting. He leant in for a kiss and, as she returned it, Kim's treacherous memory reminded her of how it had felt to kiss Tommy.

She wasn't being fair to Jason.

She never had been. Even when she'd thought Tommy was just a figment of her imagination, she'd cared about him more than the one currently kissing her.

She went back to her practicing. Jason was right and she should have been doing this, instead of discussing the forgotten past with Tommy. The competition had slipped into insignificance in comparison with the hope of answers. She'd lived her life for gymnastics, but only because there was nothing more important to live for. An article in Sports World had described her as America's best chance for a gymnastic gold at the next Olympics, but she'd throw it all away to be a Ranger again.

Jason looked at her and saw her dedication. He never saw that she was just hiding. She wore herself out until she was too tired to remember her dreams, the world that might have been. She gave herself completely to her sport, because it helped her to forget what she could no longer give her life to.

She would tell Jason the truth. But not until Tommy had contacted Billy. She would wait until a respected scientist offered his opinion. Billy had been the only one who even came close to believing her. If he heard what they had to say now and believed them, maybe he would help convince Jason. Kim didn't think she could face that task on her own.

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Tommy managed to find a phone number for Billy. Now he just had to work out what to say. Somehow, he didn't think saying, "Hi, you don't know me but in an alternative timeline we used to be friends," would go down too well. Even with Billy.

He braced himself for a challenge and dialled the number.

"Dr Cranston," came a voice at the other end.

"Hi," Tommy said, "my name is Tommy Oliver. Do you remember Kimberly Hart?"

"Of course I remember Kim. We were in high school together. Why?"

"Um," Tommy said, wondering how to phrase the next query. Billy must have got the wrong idea, because he asked in a concerned voice.

"What's wrong? Has something happened to Kimberly?"

"No! No. Kim's fine."

"Then what's this about?"

"Do you remember when Kim was taken to hospital? She started talking about events no one else remembered."

"Yes," Billy sounded somewhat dubious.

"The same thing happened to me."

"Alright," said Billy, still not sounding certain about this.

"One of my friends mentioned a theory of yours about time travel and rewritten timelines. We were hoping it would explain what happened, since Kim and I share memories of events that no one else is aware of."

"Are you a Power Ranger?" Billy asked.

"Yes," Tommy answered.

"OK," Tommy could hear the sound of rustling papers at the other end of the phone, "Kim told us she got her powers from a coin. What gave you your powers?"

"A gem," Tommy answered, "what relevance does this have?"

"Potentially, there may be a great deal of significance. Can you tell me the colour of the gem?"

"Black," he said, still not sure what the point was.

"Are you aware of anyone else who's experienced what you have?"

"One other."

"Did this other get his powers from a blue crystal?"

Tommy was too astonished to speak for several seconds. "How did you know?" he asked at last.

"I found them," Billy answered. "I investigated the location Kimberly provided as the position for the Command Centre and I unearthed the three items."

"Why didn't you tell Kim?"

"Initially, I was uncertain as to what they were. I wished to ascertain their authenticity before I revealed their existence to Kimberly, in case she really was delusional. I didn't want to cause more damage by giving credibility to her beliefs if they weren't in fact true."

"But you found out later?"

"There was evidence to support her statements. However, she had long since left Angel Grove by the time I made my discoveries and we had fallen out of communication."

Tommy felt that Billy should have tried harder to get in touch with Kim, but didn't say anything. He needed Billy on their side if they were to figure this out.

"Would you be able to come to my lab?" Billy asked. "It would be better if you could see the results of my research for yourself."

"Not easily," Tommy said, "I have work tomorrow. I might be able to make it next weekend." Billy's lab was in Washington so getting there would be slow, expensive or both.

"The sooner I can run some tests, the better results I'll get. I'll investigate the possibility of moving some of my equipment to your location temporarily."

Tommy gave his address and spent the next hour or so answering various questions about his experience. He wasn't sure what help Billy's equipment could provide, but he was definitely relieved that Billy believed without question and was willing to do what he could to work out what had happened. A solution might be just around the corner.


	10. Billy

Author's note: I've tried to use American terms since the story is told from American perspectives, however I apologise if at any point I slip into English usage. If ever I write "mobile" I mean "cell phone" and if I put "football" I mean "soccer" not American football. I think I've remembered to use the American version through this chapter, but I thought I'd add the warning anyway.

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Tommy left the school and switched on his cell phone. He made a point to ensure it was switched off during school time because he knew that if his phone rang, even once, he would never again stand a chance of getting the kids to keep theirs switched off. Two missed calls, both from Hayley. He checked the voice mail.

"Um, Tommy. A friend of yours has just shown up. He said he couldn't get into your place and needed somewhere to set up as soon as possible. I'm fine with you telling your friends to come to Cyberspace, but could you tell them to leave their huge pieces of machinery behind?" Hayley sounded very, very annoyed.

He listened to the second message, "OK, your friend's a genius. I can let you use the Cyberspace, but it's got to be a temporary thing." She sounded less irritated that time, but Tommy figured it would be a good idea to get to the cyber café as soon as possible and sort this out.

From the genius comment, he guessed it was Billy who had showed up, but it was surprising he'd gotten here so fast. Especially if he'd bought equipment with him. Yet, there he was, standing in the middle of the café next to what appeared to be a giant metal box. The thing was about as tall as a person and almost as wide. Must have been a struggle getting it in through the doors. There were a couple of screens and a keyboard on one side, a drawer in another. And there was Billy, tapping at the keyboard. He looked different, older, but that was only to be expected.

He'd never thought he'd see Billy again, not after he decided to stay on Aquitar. Yet here he was, tinkering about with machines as always.

"Hi, you must be Tommy," said Billy, finally noticing he was being stared at. "I'm Billy, it's nice to meet you." He shook Tommy's hand, but Tommy was still feeling slightly dazed by all this. It was one thing to know he was in a timeline where Billy had never left, it was another to see an old friend standing in front of him.

"I know who you are," Tommy said, "As far as I'm concerned, we're old friends."

"Then I expect this is going to get weird."

"How did you get here so fast?"

"I caught the first plane I could. I wanted to start observing the chronotons as soon as possible since they fade quickly and I've no idea how much data will be required."

"OK," said Tommy, since agreeing was the easiest way of dealing with any of Billy's statements that weren't understood. He vaguely recalled the term chronoton, but couldn't remember where from exactly.

"I need you to bring me anything you had on you when you were found after the change occurred," Billy said, "Clothes, jewellery, anything you might have had in your pockets.

"OK, I'll be back in a little while then; I'll need to go back to my house."

"You're not going to ask why?" Billy looked surprised.

"As I said, I know you. I know you've got some reason for asking and I know I probably wouldn't understand the explanation anyway." He looked about for Hayley, but she was on the phone arguing with someone about deliveries, so he just waved and headed for the door.

About three quarters of an hour later, he was back at the Cyberspace, glad no police cars had been around to notice his slight disregard for the speed limit. He offered Billy his bracelet and the earring he'd been wearing. Kim still had the photo.

"Brilliant," said Billy. He opened up the drawer in the side of the machine and put both objects in. One of the screens was clearly connected to a camera inside, which showed the jewellery sitting in the bottom of the drawer, not doing anything.

"What are we looking at?" Tommy asked.

"This machine detects chronoton particles: particles which don't seem to obey the normal laws of time. They tend to cluster around space-time anomalies, and will get attached to objects that were also near to the same anomalies. Unfortunately, they dissipate quite rapidly. I'm hoping there are enough still collected around the objects in your possession to get a good reading."

"OK." Tommy thought he could understand and risked trying to gain more knowledge. "If you do get a reading, what will that do?"

"Chronotons have a sort of memory of events and the state of space around them. If I can get enough chronotons that are connected by a specific event in space-time, I can use the information extrapolated from them to gain an image of the state of the universe at that point."

"Meaning?"

"A window into the past. In lab experiments, we've managed to look back about twenty minutes. I'm hoping that if I can combine data from the particles off your objects and Kimberly's, I may be able to see what happened during the anomaly that caused you to have different memories of the world."

Billy was typing rapidly all the time he was talking. Now, little green dots were appearing on the screen around the bracelet. There was a small cluster around the earring, but far more gathered on the surface of Tommy's communicator. The patch where the gem usually resided was completely covered in green.

"Are those the particles?" Tommy asked.

"Representations of them," Billy answered, "the actual chronotons are subatomic in size."

"There are a lot around where the gem was. Did you say you found the gem?"

"Yes, but the chronotons were at an almost normal level. There was a slight increase, but not enough to be statistically significant or to give any useful data. I found the gem buried. It had been there at least several decades, but more likely several centuries."

"Can I see it?"

"It's in that bag over there," Billy waved a hand towards a couple of suitcases and a backpack that were sitting, abandoned in the corner. Tommy rummaged through the backpack until he found a small box containing the gem, the crystal and the coin. There was no doubt about what Billy had found.

Tommy took the gem in his hand. And felt nothing. He'd held the gem enough times to know what its power felt like, but this was empty. Not just drained but dead. Not the slightest trace of power inside it.

No more black Ranger. Ever again.

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"You can't just leave," Max said, watching as Justin shoved spare t-shirts and changes of underwear into his bag. Max was the captain of the soccer team, furious and confused as the star player was determined to go on a trip in the middle of the season.

"You've never cut class in your life," said Toby, looking up from the comic he was reading, "why are you starting now?" He was lying on his bed, pretending to have no interest in what Justin was doing, but quite obviously listening to every word. He hadn't turned a page in the past half hour and even Toby wasn't that slow at reading.

"It's important," Justin said. He'd spent the day not concentrating. Through every class, he'd sat and wondered what would happen if went and met Tommy. He'd come to the conclusion that he knew what would happen if he didn't. He'd spend the rest of his life wondering, never knowing what might have been.

It didn't matter if it was real or a joke or if he was going mad. Whatever was happening, he had to find out or he'd live the rest of his life looking back on this moment and wondering.

Since he'd first woken up in the hospital bed, he'd been desperate to know what had happened to him, why he'd imagined the Rangers, or how they'd been lost. Now someone was offering him answers and he couldn't just turn away. Even if this was another slip into insanity, maybe the imagined world was better. A world of heroes and friends that he could trust with his life. The best thing about this life was soccer, and it wasn't like he'd never played as a Ranger.

So he was going to find Tommy. College, classes, even the soccer team didn't matter compared to what Tommy might offer him.

Providing he hadn't imagined the conversation.

"Has something happened to your dad?" Max asked.

"No. An old friend called and he needs my help."

"And it couldn't wait?"

Justin didn't answer at once. He stared at his bag, ostensibly checking he'd packed everything he needed, but really wondering. Would it matter if he waited until the weekend? He'd been waiting for years, what difference would a few days make? But he knew if he didn't go now, he probably never would. And he would always regret it.

Missing a few days of college wasn't the end of the world. Missing out on meeting Tommy could end the world he'd always hoped was real.

"I need to go," Justin said, "I'm sorry."

"Hey, I don't mind," said Toby, "It means I won't have to put up with your snoring for a few nights."

"Oh, please! You're the one who snores." Justin closed his bag, a signal that the conversation was over with.

"Just look after yourself," said Max, "I want those feet of yours back on the pitch as soon as possible."

"I'll see you in a few days," Justin said, swinging the bag over his shoulder and heading for the door.

"Justin, wait," Max said. Justin turned back, but Max now seemed hesitant to say whatever it was he had been intending to. "There were rumours," he said at last, "that you used to be..." he trailed off, hunting for the right word.

"Nuts," supplied Toby. It was too much to have hoped he'd escape his record at college.

"That you used to go off hunting for superheroes," Max said, glaring at Toby.

Justin wasn't sure what to say. He could deny everything, pretend he didn't believe any more, that he was a normal kid. But these were his friends.

"The friend who called remembers the same things I do," Justin said, "the things everyone else doesn't think happened. If he's lying or trying to trick me or what he says doesn't match up to what I know, then I'll know the heroes were all in my mind and I can get on with my life. If this doesn't work out, then I'll know that I was wrong but at least I'll have the answers."

"And if it does work out?"

"Then it'll prove I wasn't nuts." He gave a slight sigh. "But I'm not really expecting that to happen." Hoping, yes, but he didn't dare to expect.

"Be careful, Justin."

"I will." And he headed out of the door.

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Kim used the excuse of wanting a sit down with a long drink as the excuse for going to the Cyberspace, but really she just wanted to see if Tommy was there, if he'd heard anything. She couldn't tell Jason that, though she had a feeling he already suspected Tommy was the reason this café was the one she chose. He was clearly annoyed about the whole situation and Kim wondered if she risked pushing his tolerance too far by bringing him here, but it was better than leaving him to stew in jealousy while she spent time alone with Tommy again.

She pushed open the door to the cyber café and instantly noticed the difference. There was a big machine taking up what had been an open space near the door. And there, talking rapidly to Tommy, was a familiar figure.

"Billy?" she said. He looked up and smiled a greeting. She hugged him.

"Wow, it's been years."

"Kim, you're looking good."

"Thank you."

"Billy," said Jason. His tone wasn't at all friendly and Kim looked at him in surprise, seeing barely disguised hostility on his features. That wasn't what she'd been expecting.

"Hi, Jason," said Billy, cautiously. Not exactly the greeting of an old friend.

"What's going on here?" Jason asked.

"I'm doing some practical research into one of my theories on space-time anomalies," Billy answered, "of the sort that might explain some people having different recollection of events to others." Jason didn't answer. He was glaring at Billy, not even trying to hide his anger now.

"Kim, I believe this is yours," Tommy said, tossing a small object over to her. She caught it. A coin, larger than any normal currency, inscribed with the emblem of the pterodactyl.

"Where did you find it?" she asked in wonder, still staring at the coin.

"I did a little digging," Billy said, "literally. I found it in the place you said the Command Centre was."

"Why didn't you tell me?"

"Because Jason don't me not to."

Kim turned to face Jason, waiting for an answer or an explanation. She had a feeling that, whatever he said, she wasn't going to like it.

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Author's note: Chronotons have turned up in Power Rangers, however Billy wouldn't be expected to remember that. So if my explanation contradicts anything said in the show about them, Billy's actually talking about a different type of particles and it's just a coincidence he's given them the same name. I don't think there are any contradictions though.


	11. Fight

Author's note: The end of this chapter is slightly rushed, but I wanted to get it posted before my boyfriend whisks me away to Paris. Although technically, since I'm paying my own train fair, I guess I'm whisking myself.

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"You'd just met Coach Schmidt," Jason said, trying to appease an angry Kimberly, "You were happy. I didn't want Billy to say anything that would prevent you from pursuing your dreams."

"You didn't think I ought to be given a choice?" her voice was raised a little now, drawing the attention of the café's customers, already intrigued by the strange machine.

"Going to Florida was a once in a lifetime opportunity. I didn't want you to miss out on it because you weren't yourself." He'd done what he'd thought best for her. He always had. Now she was glaring accusingly at him as though he'd committed some crime.

"Not myself?" She said the words with a venom Jason wasn't used to hearing from her. "You mean, if I was crazy. Didn't it even occur to you that this might be the proof that I was sane? I have spent years thinking that there was something wrong with me, when I was fine all along! And all because you decided I shouldn't be shown something." Her voice with rising to a shout now. "Did you even think about what I wanted?"

"Of course I did," he tried to calm her, tried to reach out, but she was having none of it. "I was trying to protect you."

"I don't need your protection! I don't need you!" She stormed out.

"Kimberly!" Jason started after her immediately, but Tommy grabbed his arm.

"Let her cool down," Tommy said. All the anger in Jason bubbled up at once. He was furious with Kim for reacting like this, he was furious with Billy for dumping him in it, but he was especially furious with Tommy for being there and causing all this. Jason swung a punch, but Tommy blocked it easily.

"You couldn't stay out of it, could you?" Jason yelled. "We were fine before we came here! Kim was fine before she met you!"

"She still is fine. What the hell are you blaming me for? You're the one who's been hiding things from her!"

Jason wanted to hit him again, but he remembered how things had gone in the hotel and he didn't want to get drawn into another long fight. Or get knocked on his ass again, for that matter. He needed to find Kim.

He left the café, but the argument with Tommy had caused enough of a delay that Kim was nowhere in sight. The door opened behind him and Tommy stepped out. Jason gave him a quick glare then turned right and set off down the street. He had a fifty-fifty chance of getting it right. At least Tommy went in the other direction.

He wished they'd never come to Reefside. Kim had been invited to this competition and there'd been no urgent trials looming so she went for it, saying that it was always good to test herself and to check up on the competition. Jason had tagged along, following her around the country as always. Standing in the background, in her shadow. He stood back and watched her shine.

At least, that was the plan. How could she be so stupid as to throw away a competition? If she hoped to make the next Olympics, she shouldn't be pausing her training for anything, let alone a fantasy world she'd forgotten years ago. And Billy shouldn't be encouraging her. Jason thought he'd made it perfectly clear last time that he wanted Billy to stay away. Wild theories were all well and good, but not when they threatened Kim's happiness.

Jason reached a dead end. Damn!

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Tommy ran down the road, hoping Kim had taken this route. He'd gone the opposite way from Jason because he had as much chance of finding her this way and he'd rather speak to her alone.

It didn't take him long to find her. She'd sat down on a bench and was crying, the anger giving way to tears. Tommy sat down next to her and waited. She'd speak when she was ready.

"Everyone thought I was crazy," she said at last, "I thought I was crazy. There was no proof, I had nothing solid to show me that the Rangers were real. And all this time Jason was hiding it from me."

"He was just doing what he thought best," Tommy said, trying to be reasonable. A large part of him wanted to thump Jason for the secret, but he knew that it must have been hard for Jase to believe any of this. Believing it was a delusion was so much easier.

"How could he do this to me?"

"He was trying to keep you safe," Tommy said, "Someone has to be your knight in shining armour." Kim managed a weak laugh at that, though she hadn't stopped crying.

"He's supposed to love me," she said between sobs, "but he doesn't even trust me."

"I think he does love you," Tommy said, "If not, he's doing a very good job of pretending." Another weak laugh without any real humour behind it.

"What do I do, Tommy?" she asked. Tommy felt he really wasn't the best person to give impartial advice here. He didn't know what to do any more than she did.

"Do you love Jason?" he asked. It was a question he'd been wanting to ask since Jason had announced they were engaged. Suddenly he had a reason to.

Kim hesitated before she answered. "Yes," she said, "I do love Jason." Tommy had a feeling, from her tone of voice, that there was a 'but' coming.

"But," she went on, "it's nothing like what you and I had. There wasn't the same fire."

"Then why are you engaged to him?"

"Because there was no one else! Every guy I met, I compared with you. Everyone told me you were an idealised fantasy. How was anyone ever going to live up to that? Every guy I went out with, every guy who asked for my phone number, I looked at and just thought of all the ways he wasn't as good as you. And then there was Jason. Sweet and kind and supportive. I decided he was the best I was going to find. So I said 'yes'." She looked at him, her tears stopped. "If I'd known you were real..."

She broke off, but stayed looking at him. Then she leaned in to kiss him.

Tommy kissed back for a moment, then pulled away.

"No, this isn't right," he said. A part of him was screaming to stop talking and kiss the beautiful girl who was sitting next to him. But that part was held back by the rest of him who had come to terms with losing Kim a long time ago.

"You're angry and upset. You don't really want this. It's not fair on Jason and it's not fair on you. He loves you. Go find him, talk to him. You shouldn't do anything you'll regret when you've had a chance to calm down."

"Damn you, Tommy," she said, wiping her eyes and giving a slight smile, "why do you have to be right?"

"One of us has to be. Go."

Kim hugged him. Tommy couldn't help but remember a million other embraces, and then Kim was gone.

Tommy stayed sitting there a while longer. He wondered if he'd made a mistake. It had been hard enough to lose Kim once. Now he was expected to stand back and watch her give herself to Jason. He could stand it if it were anyone else, if it were some nameless stranger he was losing her to. He'd never known the perfect someone she'd left him for. But to lose the love of his life to the closest friend he'd ever known, the thought was enough to shatter his heart all over again.

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Kim headed back to the hotel room, walking slowly to give Jason a chance to get there first. It worked. He was sitting on the bed waiting when she was walked in. He didn't say anything, but the anger and tension in the room was tangible. She needed this confrontation. Too much had been hidden for too long.

"I never forgot the Rangers," Kim said, "I just stopped talking about them. But I'm not the only one who remembers. It's not a delusion."

"This guy's just trying to take advantage of you."

"No. Never!"

"He's playing on your fantasies to try and use you."

"Don't be ridiculous."

"I saw you two kissing!" It came out in a yell. Kim blinked in surprise. She wondered how much Jason had seen, if he'd heard what had been said. She stood in silence, wondering how to say what she had to say. She was still furious at Jason for lying to her, but now he was angry at her for one brief mistake. They were hardly heading for a polite, civilised conversation here.

"He is the boyfriend I remember from before the world changed," Kim said, "and he had the other half of the photo." She went to get her suitcase, pulling the two bits of paper from the front pocket where she'd hidden them.

"I haven't shown anyone that picture for years. It's a not a trick." She handed them over to Jason, who stared at them. He didn't look any less angry.

"So that makes it OK, does it?" he demanded, "You knew him years ago so it's alright to kiss him? We're supposed to be engaged, for God's sake! What was this to you? Just a compromise until someone better came along?"

"How dare you! I was upset and I made a mistake! But I was coming here to put things right! You lied to me for years! You hid things from me that I needed to know more than anything else in the world! And you don't even think I deserve an apology?"

"I was just doing what I thought was best."

"Well you were wrong! You didn't even trust me."

"You go snog some other guy and you're telling me off for not trusting you?"

"Don't try to change the subject! I want to hear an apology for keeping the coin a secret."

"If I hadn't done that, you wouldn't be America's best hope for a gold in the next Olympics."

"I don't care!" Kim screamed the words. Her throat was sore from all the shouting but she couldn't calm down the raging fire inside her. "I worked so hard at gymnastics because I was trying to forget. I put everything into competing because I didn't have anything more important to do, not anymore. You robbed me of what meant most in the world to me. And if you're not going to say 'sorry' for that, I don't know what I'm even doing here."

She'd already got her suitcase out, so it wasn't much effort to yank open a drawer and shove her clothes back inside.

"What do you think you doing?" Jason asked.

"What does it look like?" She headed into the bathroom to grab her toothbrush and wash bag. Jason tried to block her way when she came out.

"You can't just leave," he said.

"Sure I can." She shoved past him. "You don't trust me and I sure as hell can't trust you. So what's the point?"

"Fine! Walk out! I'm sick of spending my life trailing around after you! I followed you to Florida and every other damn place you've wanted to go, but don't think I'm going to follow you now."

Kim walked out, slamming the door and towing her suitcase behind her.

She got half-way down the hall before she realised she'd left her purse back in the hotel room. She didn't have her cell phone or any money but there was no way she could go back for them.

She almost broke down there and then. The furious rage was replaced by sadness and regret. She'd just walked out on her fiancé. She couldn't go back and the only place she had left to go was just going to make things worse.


	12. Class

Author's note: I've had a couple of people comment on the fact that Justin's powers came from a key not a crystal. The reason I use a crystal here should be explained by this chapter. This is entirely my own theory, but it would explain how Zordon got the turbo keys. After all, if he had them before, why didn't he give them to the Rangers when the coins were destroyed in season three?

oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

Tommy was trying to get a class of teenagers to pay attention as he explained about reduction reactions in chemistry. It probably didn't help that he wasn't particularly interested either, but a high school science teacher couldn't just talk about dinosaurs and fossils every lesson.

Tommy wondered if there was something wrong with the way he was teaching. He tried to make things interesting. He tried to keep them engaged and gave them a variety of subjects. But still, Trent's head wasn't bend studiously over his paper because he was taking notes; Tommy had spotted another sketch of Kira under the sheets he was supposed to see. Connor was playing some sort of game with one of the other guys on the soccer team, trying to get balled up bits of paper into a goal made by Derrick's pens. And Cassidy was checking her make-up every time Tommy turned to the board.

No doubt, they all thought he hadn't noticed.

The door opened so hard it slammed against the wall, making everyone in the room jump. Jason walked in, glaring at Tommy so hard he seemed oblivious to the class, sitting there, suddenly interested. This was not going to be pleasant.

"Where is she?" Jason demanded.

"Look, I've got a class to teach. Why don't we talk afterwards?" Tommy said, staying calm. But Jason wasn't in any mood for calm.

"Where is Kimberly?"

"She just needed a little time to calm down. Maybe you should do the same and then you can sort this whole thing out."

"You're telling me to calm down?" The volcano of Jason's rage was about to blow. "You kiss my fiancée and you tell me to calm down!"

"Technically," Tommy said, "she kiss me."

That was the explosion. Jason closed the distance between them and grabbed hold of the front of Tommy's shirt. Tommy wondered how many times they'd demonstrated together how to get out of this hold when they were teaching self defence classes. He brought his right arm round and slammed it on top of Jason's left. Jason let go, taking a step back and clearly rethinking the whole idea of a physical fight.

"You're so anxious to blame me," Tommy said, "Did it never occur to you that you might be doing something wrong if your fiancée wants to spend the night in her ex's bed?" Tommy had never had a more attentive class. He just hoped Cassidy didn't plan on putting this on the school news.

Jason was staring at Tommy, open-mouthed, too shocked to even form a coherent thought to deal with what Tommy had just implied. "You... You..."

"I took the couch," Tommy said. Jason calmed slightly, but not by much.

"I'm not trying to take Kim away from you," Tommy said, "As far as I'm concerned, it was over between us a long time ago. The problems between you two may have only come to light since she met me again, but they were there all along." He thought Jason was listening, but it was hard to tell.

"She told me she loves you," Tommy said, not about to mention she'd also said it was lacking something, "If you really do love her, think about why she's mad at you. Only you can decide if it's worth trying to make it up to her." Jason didn't say anything, but he was clearly thinking. "We'll be at the cyber café later. Come along and talk to Kim there."

Still without a word, Jason walked out of the classroom. Tommy let him leave, then closed the door, wondering if he'd done the right thing. Kim didn't love Jason the way she'd loved him. What if he was encouraging her to spend a life without true passion? A part of him just wanted to slip back into the old relationship, whispering that things could start where they'd left off.

But too much had happened. He had to let Kim make her own decisions, whether it was him or Jase. After all, she was furious about having her choices made for her.

Tommy would wait. If she decided she wanted to try again, that was great. But everything was too confused right now for any of them to think clearly.

"So," Tommy turned to his class, who were all sitting attentively for once, "we were discussing reduction reactions."

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Justin got off the bus and headed for the nearest phone box. He'd set out of this trek without checking Tommy's address. So he flipped through the pages of the book to the Os, only to find someone had ripped out the very page he needed.

So he was in a strange town with limited funds, no map and no clue where he was going. It was no wonder everyone thought he was crazy.

He looked at the possible streets and picked one with a couple of shops on it, on the grounds that it was likely to lead to a shopping area where there could well be more phones. Failing that, a shop might let him use their phone book. If nothing else, the walk would do some good to the muscles that were cramped and stiff from trying to sleep on a bus.

Finding another phone wasn't too difficult. He found one after only a few minutes walking, occupied by a guy arguing furiously with someone at the other end. Justin came to the conclusion there'd been a mistake with an order of flowers for somebody's wedding. After a while, the guy leaned out of the booth and told Justin that this would take a while and he'd be better off trying elsewhere.

Justin walked a little further. He passed a few shops and decided he'd try asking. He went into a second-hand bookshop, stepping into dim light and piles of dusty volumes that loomed precariously above him. Heavily-laden shelves covered all the walls. A little, elderly lady sat behind a desk.

"Can I help you, dear?" she asked.

"I was wondering if I could borrow your phone book."

She gave a little laugh, "My phone book's about as old as most of these." She gestured at the hard-backed tomes lining the small shop. "Is it someone in particular you're looking for?"

"A friend. Tommy Oliver."

"Ah, Tommy," the woman smiled, "a nice young man. I don't know his address, but I know he goes to Hayley's café most evenings when he gets off work."

"Where could I find this café?"

"Just follow this road and take the second right. It's on that street. It's a cyber café: computers and video games and the like. All well beyond me, but you're probably young enough to enjoy it. And Hayley's a lovely young woman."

"Thank you very much."

"You're welcome. And when you see Tommy, tell him I've found a copy of the book on ornithischia he was wanting."

"I will," Justin said, "Thanks again."

So unless there were two Tommy Oliver's in the same area, he was a lot closer to finding his goal. He found the café quite easily, though it didn't seem to go in for bright lights and advertising. It was tucked away down an alley, with just a small sign over the door. Still, it seemed to be doing thriving business.

Justin headed inside, looking around at the sofas, computers and arcade games. And the huge machine that took up a large amount of floor space. There was a guy typing at a keyboard which protruded from one side, viewing confusing graphs on a screen above it.

"Can I help you?" a woman a little older than Justin came out from behind the counter, greeting him with a smile.

"Hi, I'm looking for Tommy Oliver. I was told he comes in here."

"That's right. He should be here when school gets out. Can I get you a drink while you wait?"

"Coffee," Justin said. He wasn't supposed to have coffee and usually didn't just because of the bitter taste. But he was exhausted from spending the night travelling and the caffein would be welcome.

"You must be Justin," said the guy by the machine. "I'm Billy."

Back when he'd been a Ranger, Justin had fostered a great deal of jealousy towards the former blue Ranger. He'd never met Billy, just heard stories about how clever he was and what a great Ranger he'd been and all the things he'd made for them over the years. He'd almost hated the guy because he'd spent so much time wondering if the others were comparing him to Billy. Yet now, recognising him from the photos he'd seen, Justin couldn't have been happier to meet someone. He saw the face, older but unmistakable, and he coule believe again that he'd been right.

"I believe this belongs to you," Billy said, handing him a piece of blue crystal. Justin stared at it for a moment before recognition sunk in. This had once been at the heart of his turbo key, powering his morphing and his strength. When Zordon had found a way to draw stronger energy from the zeo crystal, this had been built into the turbo key that Justin had taken.

He held it in his hand and could have cried with relief. It was real.


	13. Hands

Billy worked at analysing the data received from the chronotons. Occasionally, the café's customers would ask him what he was doing, but Hayley managed to keep them from disturbing him too often. He suspected she might get an increase in business due to half the teenagers in the city trying to work out what his project was or the machine was supposed to do.

When Hayley wasn't busy serving drinks or fielding curious kids, she helped him to make adjustments to the machine. Billy had never had so much information to work with and was managing to improve the scanner even as he collected data. He was somewhat surprised at how much Hayley seemed to understand about what they were doing. He wouldn't have imagined someone with such technical expertise running a café.

When Justin arrived, Billy immediately had him place his communicator into the scanner drawer. With three different samples, he was able to calculate an approximation for the decay rate of the chronotons. He typed a few equations into the computer and left it to work out a guess at the length of time the objects he'd found had been buried for them to be so completely free of the particles.

He read the result.

He read it again.

He checked he'd typed in the equations properly and looked for typos.

"This can't be right."

Justin and Hayley came across to read it over his shoulder.

"Those things have been sitting around for ten thousand years?" Hayley asked.

"Give or take a century," Billy answered.

"There were Rangers around then," Justin said, "I think it's about then that Rita got imprisoned and Zordon got trapped in a time warp. Or something." The other two looked at him for clarification. "Look, I don't remember. Rita was defeated ages before I became a Ranger and Zordon went back to Eltar soon afterwards. As far as I know, the morphing grid's been around forever so there have been Power Rangers whenever they were needed since life first began."

Billy looked at the number on the screen again. He wasn't sure this would work. Using the chronotons to look back in time a few minutes was one thing, but ten thousand years? Even with this level of data, he wasn't sure he could do. He'd been expecting no more than a few centuries.

"Can you put Tommy's bracelet back in," Billy said. It was the object that still attracted the most chronotons, and he was going to need everything he could get.

Justin went to switch the communicators over. As he hand went into the drawer, there was a trace of green right on the edge of the screen.

"Wait a moment," Billy said, "can you put your hand back in?"

"OK," Justin said, sounded a little confused. He put his hand into the open drawer. The green returned to the edge of the screen.

"Can you get it inside any further?"

Unfortunately, the scanner had been designed to function with the drawer shut. Justin managed to get his hand completely inside though, and Billy and Hayley gawped at the screen. Justin's hand, creeping into view, was seeped in chronotons. The display coated it in some many green dots that even the shape of the hand was hard to work out.

"This isn't very comfortable," Justin complained, "What's going on?"

"It seems that organic matter retains chronotons much better than inorganic," said Billy, frantically recording the readings he was getting.

He'd never had the opportunity to test this before. They didn't have any people who'd been caught up in space-time anomalies to put into the scanner. But if Kim and Tommy were the same, this might be the break he was looking for.

The computer was running flat out trying to take readings and compare them with those already stored. So much knowledge. Every particle with its own little memory of what had happened to it. The computer fed the facts together, digesting knowledge to create an idea of what had been.

This might work!

Billy could already see the Nobel Prize.

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Kim went to the Cyberspace after a day of not quite concentrating at the gym. Usually, gymnastics helped calm her mind and sort out her chaotic thoughts. She guessed there were rather more of them than usual. She still wasn't sure if she ought to go and talk to Jason. A part of her understood why he'd done it. After all, she'd been hiding things from him recently.

The rest of her was still mad.

Her first thought when she walked into the café was that one of the customers had been messing around with the machine and got their hand stuck inside. A guy in his late teens was standing awkwardly, his hand inside the scanner drawer. But Billy didn't seem annoyed. In fact, he seemed frantic with excitement.

The guy with the hand looked up.

"Kimberly," he said, looking pleased to see her. Kim was fairly certain she'd never seen him before in her life. "You don't recognise me, do you?"

"I'm afraid not. But I'll guess you're Justin."

"That's right."

"Kimberly, excellent," said Billy, barely looking up from his work, "can you take Justin's place."

"Thank god," muttered Justin, extracting his hand. Kim cautiously put hers inside, hoping that this thing wasn't going to give her cancer or something. It was tricky. Getting her hand inside meant her forearm was trapped between the wall of the scanner and the front of the drawer. The height of the thing meant she had to crouch a little to reach properly.

"Why am I doing this?" she asked.

"Apparently we're soaked in chronotons," Justin answered.

"It appears that while they dissipate quickly from inorganic objects," Billy said, "they will remain fixed to people. I'm hoping to triangulate the data from you, Justin and Tommy to generate the viewing window."

The excitement was obvious in his tone of voice and Kimberly began to be hopeful that this would be fixed soon. A part of her wondered why she'd been bothering to practice her routines. If all went well, the world would be back to normal and the competition wouldn't be happening. Maybe she wouldn't need to worry about sorting out her relationship with Jason. She could be going back to a world where she'd met Tommy the way she was meant to.

After a few, uncomfortable minutes, Billy decided he'd had enough readings and needed to do some calculations, so Kim headed to one of the sofas with Justin. She rubbed her sore arm as she sat.

"So, as far as you're concerned, we're friends?" Kim asked.

"Sort of," Justin answered, "We only really met once. You'd gone off to train in Florida ages before I joined the team. My first mission was rescuing you and Jason when you were captured to be used in an evil sacrifice."

"Surely I came back to Angel Grove to visit Tommy."

"Not when I was there. You two had been broken up for months before I became friends with him."

She and Tommy had broken up.

The thought joined the confused muddle of emotions that were already swirling through her. Of course they'd broken up. He hadn't said anything about them being together. He hadn't wanted to kiss her. He'd made up a bed on the couch when she'd turned up on his doorstep.

It was so obvious now that she was amazed she hadn't realised it sooner.

As far as she'd been concerned, he was the love of her life, the one person no one could ever live up to, the relationship that was too good to be true. Now Justin said they'd broken up as though it wasn't the most heart-breaking statement in the world. As though it was something that was inevitable and obvious.

"Are you OK?" Justin asked.

"Yeah, I'm fine," she answered. She wasn't sure she was, but she knew she would be. After all, she'd gotten used to not having Tommy in her life once before.

He didn't ask anything else, because at that moment Tommy came in. He saw Justin and grinned. At least someone recognised him.

"Wow, you've grown. "

"You've cut your hair. I was under the impression that you'd lose all your super-strength if that ever happened."

"Hey!" Tommy complained, still grinning. Then he pulled Justin into a hug. "Still as precocious a little brat as ever," he said.

"I prefer to term prodigy," Justin joked back.

Kim stood back and watched, thinking about what Justin had said, looking at this confident teacher who stood before her. He remembered years that she couldn't. Kim wanted to talk to him, wanted to ask him what had gone wrong. But not here. Not surrounded by all these people.

Billy called Tommy over to take his turn sticking a hand inside the scanner. Kim watched. A part of her wished she hadn't met Tommy here. She'd been happy with Jason. Sure it wasn't a perfect relationship, but she'd cared about him and been prepared to spend the rest of her life with him. She'd known where she was going and what her life was about.

She'd dreamed of this for so long. She did want this. She wanted to understand. But suddenly her life was messed up; confused and confusing. She didn't know where she was going or what she was meant to do.

"I've got it!" Billy declared.

Kim shook herself out of her thoughts and hurried round to watch the screen. A confusing mass of colours was condensing together, beginning to form an image.

"What are we looking at?" she asked. Tommy, Justin and Hayley were also gathered round. A few customers came closer, trying to see.

"This is what happened during the time distortion," Billy said, "at a point about ten thousand years ago."

They stood together and watched the past become clear before them. They waited for understanding.


	14. Battle

Author's note: I hope it's clear which bits are in the cafe and which bits they're watching happen in the past. 

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Tommy watched himself appear on the screen. Himselves, he corrected as he looked at the large number of people in view. The image was a chaos of people in Ranger costumes, most of which he recognised from putting together the history. There were a few outfits among the crowd he didn't know though.

What confused him most was that he saw himself as black, green, white and red. The black version was centre of the shot. Presumably since Billy had gotten most data from him, he would be the one shown by the time window.

There was as much confusion on the screen as there was in his mind. Everyone was talking, moving around. He couldn't be sure how many Rangers were there, but he guessed dozens at least.

"Ranger leaders!" said the Tommy in centre screen, "To me! We need to get organised."

There was movement among the crowd and soon the black Ranger was surrounded by a circle of others, almost entirely in red.

"This is going to get confusing," said the black Ranger. He powered down.

"Tommy?" asked the turbo leader, powering down to reveal TJ, "I thought you quit."

"So did I. It's a long story and we don't have time right now. I assume you're all here for the same reason we are?"

The rest of those gathered were powering down now. Tommy saw several he didn't know. Rangers who would come after them, he guessed. Or at least who were meant to.

"A quantum fluctuation in the morphing grid," said Andros, "that's been affecting all our powers."

"Dr Manx said someone was trying to change history and erase the Rangers from time by draining the grid," said one of the unfamiliar people, "She traced the fluctuation to this point and managed to open a time portal."

"Billy managed to trace the source of the anomaly to the Power Chamber," said the Zeo Tommy.

"Then let's go stop whoever's behind this," said the Dino Tommy, "Keep charge of your own teams."

The hoard of people moved again, splitting up and gathering in smaller groups. Tommy saw both Justin and Kim in the background. Two Kims, he amended. So someone tried to write the Rangers out of history. Presumably they managed. It made sense, given all that had happened, but it didn't explain why no one had tried to rule the world that was currently unprotected.

The many teams rounded a hill and the Power Chamber came into view. Command Centre, Tommy mentally corrected himself, this being ten thousand years ago, after all. It looked no different than it had when he'd known it.

Apart from the armies surrounding it.

Putties, tangas, tyrranodrones, cogs and so many other types of minions. This wasn't any one villain trying to destroy them. Tommy recognised so many different species of warrior and suspected that this must be a powerful alliance. All the enemies who had reason to hate the Rangers gathered together to destroy them before they began.

That many fighters would be bad enough, even given the number of Rangers, but amid the crowd of basic minions were some monsters. Goldar and Rito were waiting behind the ranks of cannon fodder, as were Elsa and Zeltrax.

Up on the hill behind them was the Command Centre, a strange glow wrapped around it. Presumably that was whatever was draining power from the morphing grid.

When the fight started, it was even harder to keep track of the people and what was going on. The chaos of combat meant that the image on the screen was constantly moving, and full of brightly coloured warriors locked in battle. For a short while, it seemed the Rangers were winning. Cogs were breaking and giving off sparks. Putties were breaking up and vanishing. Piranhatrons were melting into water.

Then the monsters got involved.

Tommy had thought it hard to watch his friends fight when he lost his green powers. Now he was watching dozens of allies in combat. Their weapons and skills might be great, but there were too many monsters. Tommy stood for five minutes, watching the various teams being sent flying, knocked on their asses by the creatures.

At last, the space Rangers combined weapons and managed to blow up one of the monsters. Tommy felt like cheering. 

"Sweet!" came a declaration from beside him. Tommy glanced round and realised that Ethan was watching the fight, as was Kira. Trent was behind the counter, but he was obviously trying to see through the gaps between the backs of those gathered.

That first victory appeared to start turning the tide of battle. A few more of the monsters were destroyed soon after. The small fry were definitely getting fewer.

Then something happened to the Time Force Rangers. A strange glow came over each of them. They were no longer fighting.

Moments later, their suits vanished. They each collapsed and Tommy recognised the look on their faces. He'd felt it so many times in his last days as the green Rangers. The pain and sudden weakness of having their powers stripped away.

The Rangers from the furthest future had lost their abilities.

The bad guys only had to stall. If the energy of the morphing grid was being drained, the effects would be rippling through time. As long as the Rangers were kept away from the Command Centre for long enough, they would be left helpless.

Tommy could hardly bear to watch. The fact he was fairly certain of the outcome made it even harder to see this, watching as the battle went rapidly downhill. It wasn't long before another group of Rangers lost their powers. A group he didn't recognise, from some future point. Then another. And another.

Five minutes had passed and now Tommy could recognise all those still suited up. It wouldn't be long now.

He made himself watch as he saw himself lose the black powers, stripped of a part of himself. He could still remember how it had felt the last time, giving up something that had been inside him for so long. He watched himself collapse, gasping, struggling to find strength without the cosmic power to aid him.

"Hey, is that me?" Kira asked, pointing to a corner of the screen where she'd just lost her powers.

"What is this, Dr O?"

"I'll explain later," he said, seeing himself forced to get up and continue the battle, powerless or not.

Those that were still Rangers were targeting the monsters, the powerless ones dealing with the putties and similar. Many of the monsters were gone now, but enough still remained. It seemed the power drain was happening faster now. The ninjas lost their powers almost immediately after the Dino Thunders, others quickly following.

"What's going on here?" Jason had entered the café. Kim didn't say anything, she took his hand and led him round the screen to watch as the Zeo Rangers were drained. Jason had been fighting off Goldar when the power loss struck and the monster wasn't going to hesitate to use this to his advantage.

Black Tommy saw what was going on, leaping into action, driving Goldar back long enough for Zeo Tommy to get to his friend and help him up.

"Jase, you OK?" 

"I'll be fine," Jason said, on his feet and ready to fight.

Tommy looked across at Jason, who was staring in disbelief at the screen.

"I told you it was real," Kim said.

The fight raged on across the screen. But time was running out. The group watching saw the last of the Rangers drained. Their powers vanishing as the morphing grid was destroyed. Without their powers, they had little hope against the monsters.

They were losing.

Not just losing.

Tommy saw Connor flung through the air to strike the ground far too hard. He didn't get up again.

They were dying.

It had been hard to see with so much chaos and movement, but Connor wasn't the first or the last. People were falling in the battle, trampled by those who fought on.

Tommy saw himself, a teenaged version, shot and sent flying in an explosion. Kim, standing beside him now, gave an abrupt cry of shock even as her counterpart on the screen screamed, rushing to kneel beside her fallen boyfriend.

Tommy saw the older version of himself go to her.

"Kim, get up, we've got to keep fighting," he said. She was crying, barely noticing him. She hugged the teenaged Tommy's body to her chest, his blood soaking into her clothes.

"We'll find a way to fix this," the older Tommy said, "If he was really gone, I wouldn't be here. You've got to keep fighting."

She listened. Tommy took his own body from her arms, laying it gently on the ground before helping Kim climb to her feet.

Tommy was taking charge again, calling the Rangers together to regroup. There were so many less than earlier, and some of those that still stood didn't look in great shape.

The army of monsters still stood between them and the Command Centre. 


	15. Fall

Kim watched the images on the screen, struggling to remember that Tommy was alive and standing beside her, despite the fact she'd just seen him die. She was watching the fall of the Rangers. Watching so many people fighting for their world and surrendering their lives to defend it.

She wasn't sure how long they'd been standing there, watching as all they'd fought for fell to pieces. She wondered how much longer the Rangers could last. Sure, they'd cut down a good many of the enemy forces, but not enough. She didn't try to delude herself that they'd win. She wouldn't be standing here if they had done.

They were struggling on the screen, taking down their enemy, but taking a beating as they did so. Kim watched Justin in particular, almost defenceless without the size and strength his powers gave him. A monster was bearing down on him, obviously seeing the same difficulty Kim saw, but with different intent. A weapon was raised, but Justin was too busy fighting a group of robot things to get out of the way.

Someone else had noticed. A guy Kim didn't recognise kicked one of the robots square in the chest, sending him flying. A second later, he was standing between Justin and the robot, taking the full force of the blast.

He fell. The force pushed him into Justin who collapsed under the weight, staring stricken at the guy who lay on top of him.

Kim heard a faint gasp from the Justin who was standing beside her. The little sound was filled with a heartbreak of pain. Then he breathed, "Carlos." He recognised the same thing his on-screen counterpart saw. The guy had died, giving his life to save Justin.

She reached out and put an arm around him. He didn't stop staring at the screen.

She'd wanted answers. She'd wanted to know what had happened. Now she did. She was seeing her friends and allies getting slaughtered. She wished for ignorance. She wished that she'd stayed the hell away from Reefside and never learned that she was right. She wished she could walk away. But she had to watch it through to the end now. A little knowledge was worse than none, but now that she had that little she needed the rest.

The Rangers managed to take down some more of the monsters, but Carlos wasn't the only casualty. She watched Jason go down and Tommy getting between him and the enemy, trying to keep him safe. But it was too late.

"Hold on, Jase, it'll be OK," Tommy said, kneeling beside him, putting pressure on the wound to try and stop the flow of blood.

"No," Jason replied, his tone laced with pain, "Go. Go protect someone who's not already dead."

"Don't talk like that. You'll be fine."

"No. I won't. Goodbye, bro."

Tommy hesitated. Then he touched Jason's arm in a final farewell before returning to the fray. Kim looked across at her Jason, watching in shock and disbelief. He was staring at the screen as though he wanted to dismiss it as computer effects and actors. But he was realising it was truth. Kim had thought it hard to watch Tommy die; how much harder it must be to watch yourself.

On screen, the Rangers regrouped. There were only about ten of them now, herself, Tommy, Justin and Adam the only ones she recognised. But there were far fewer enemy. Only one real monster among the putty and tanga equivalents.

One was enough though. Five more fell taking him down. Without their suits and powers, they weren't going to be getting up again.

And then there were five Rangers left. They stood in the desert beneath the Command Centre, battered, bruised and exhausted. Their comrades littered the earth around them. But they were alive. And their enemies were gone. Tommy, Kim, Justin, Adam and a girl Kim didn't know. All that was left of so many brave warriors.

"Come on," said Tommy, "we've got to get to the Command Centre. We might be able to undo the power drain."

They set off, running up the hill with what little strength they had remaining. Justin looked like he was fighting back tears. Kim knew the only reason the rest were managing was that they were too busy now to grieve. The pain would come later.

"I wanted so badly to be told the Rangers were real," said Justin, watching his other self climbing, "now I almost wish they weren't."

"I know what you mean," said Kim.

"So," Jason said, "so I've died?"

"A version of you," Billy said, "versions of all of us, from another timeline, went back in time and were part of an event that changed history." He'd been lucky enough to avoid seeing his own death, but it was inevitable that he was one of the bodies left back on the valley floor.

The group on screen had almost reached the Command Centre now, so conversation in the café died out again. The explosion shocked them almost as much as it shocked those they were watching. Five Rangers were flung back by the force of it as the Command Centre exploded, the ground shaking with the blast.

They'd been too close to the cliff edge. Kim watched in horror as Adam and the unknown girl tumbled from the cliff, grateful that she wouldn't see them hit the ground. She was sent tumbling down the slope, landing roughly, but still alive and able to move when Tommy and Justin reached her.

"Are you alright?" Tommy asked.

"My arm," she gasped, clutching at it.

Kim remembered the cast that had been put on a broken bone. She saw the girl on screen, wearing clothes soaked in Tommy's blood from holding his corpse, her body bruised from combat, her arm broken, her powers stripped. She saw herself as she'd been found all those years ago. Their powers were gone, the Command Centre blown up. Things were coming to their conclusion.

The three survivors walked to the ruins of what had been their Command Centre. There was a device there, placed at the base of where one of the walls had been minutes earlier. Justin hurried over to it, Tommy helping a limping Kimberly.

"Is that the draining device?" Tommy asked.

"I think so," Justin replied.

"Do you think you'll be able to undo all this?"

"I don't know. I might be able to get us back our powers, but I don't think I can..." He trailed off, looking towards the battlefield.

"Just do your best," Tommy said, patting Justin's shoulder.

He then walked over to Kim, who'd sat down on a chunk of fallen masonry.

"Are you going to be alright?"

"Are any of us?" She wasn't crying yet, but the sound of the tears was in her voice.

Tommy didn't answer. Couldn't answer. He stood there for some, long moments, watching as Justin inspected the device.

"I'll go down and..." he hesitated, "Some of them might only be injured." But he didn't sound confident.

Standing, safe and secure in Hayley's café, Kim watched Tommy walk among the bodies of the fallen. He laid the neater and closed their eyes. He wasn't really looking for survivors, because there weren't any. As she watched, Kim found herself beginning to cry. Even though she knew those people were still alive somewhere in this changed world, it didn't make their deaths any less real.

"What's happening here, Dr O?" asked a black kid who Kim thought had been one of the Rangers in the battle.

"It's a long story, Ethan," Tommy replied.

"It doesn't look like anything exciting's about to happen for a bit," said a cute girl who'd definitely been a Ranger.

So Tommy explained. He told them about how they'd been Rangers and then how they suddenly hadn't, how each of them had woken in a hospital unable to recall how their powers had vanished and the world had changed.

"This is whacked!" said Ethan.

"I'd have to agree," said the girl. "I mean, superheroes? That sort of thing just doesn't happen."

"I think it just did," said Jason. He looked Kim straight in the eye. "I'm sorry."

Kim wasn't sure she was ready to forgive him just yet, but she'd had enough time to think that she could understand why he'd acted the way he did. She gave him a little smile, but turned back to the screen without saying anything.

On the screen, Tommy had climbed back up to the others. "Any luck?" he asked.

"This thing just drains power," Justin said, "there's no way I can restore it. There's certainly no way it can alter what's happened here or bring anyone to life."

"Then we've lost," said Kim, "No more Power Rangers. The bad guys have won."


	16. Choices

Author's Note: Power Rangers being a kids' show, they always manage to get away with no one being hurt. The buildings that get smashed to bits are always empty warehouses. Still, I don't think I'm making too big of an assumption if I think that some people must have been hurt or killed given all the monster attacks there have been through the various seasons.

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"It's not over yet," Tommy said, "As long as we're still here, it's not over."

"What do you expect to do?" Kim asked, "We don't have our powers. We're stranded in the past."

"Rangers never give up."

"Look down there!" she pointed an angry finger towards the cliff edge. "There are the Rangers! And we'll be joining them as soon as Rita or Zedd or whoever the hell is behind this realises we're still alive."

"There is always a way."

"Not this time. The morphing grid is drained. Zordon is gone. There's nothing left."

"Zordon may be gone, but there are others out there. If we can send a message to Eltar or Inquiris. Dimitria might be able to send us back in time just a little further, so we can stop them putting the device in place." Tommy looked towards Justin, probably hoping for confirmation that this was plausible. Justin was still fiddling with the device, frowning at his thoughts or what he saw. He seemed oblivious to the argument between Kim and Tommy.

"There may be something we can do," Justin said, "I can turn the device on again."

"What would that do?" Kim asked. The question was less despairing now. Despite all she had just seen and been through, she wanted to believe there was hope.

"The device shut itself down when all our powers were drained, but there's still energy in the morphing grid. I'm suggesting that we drain it completely. Get rid of every trace of power."

"But that's what the bad guys want."

"No, it's not," said Justin, "They draw their power from the morphing grid, just like we do. We did. That's how they make monsters and make them grow. If we get rid of the morphing grid now, the bad guys will lose all their powers from this point in history onwards. No more monsters. Ever again."

Tommy shook his head. "We can't destroy the morphing grid. We may have lost our powers, but if there's still energy, there's still the chance for new Rangers to come along. That's the way it works. One group of Rangers relinquish their powers fighting evil and another group rise to take their place. If we do this, it means no more Power Rangers ever again, for the rest of time."

"But there'll be no one for the Rangers to fight. They won't be needed."

"The Rangers do more than just fight monsters. They're a role model for the world. They've taught a generation of kids to have confidence in themselves and to look after each other. We've been interviewed telling kids to stay in school. We're a TV show in Japan, for god's sake, complete with a moral lesson in every episode! Getting rid of the Rangers would mean destroying the heroes that everyone can look up to. I've documented the Ranger history. I've seen how we've changed things for the better. I can't condone destroying that."

"Think about it though," Kim said, "No more monster attacks. No more people getting hurt or killed. No more friends and relatives getting kidnapped to be used as bait or leverage."

"No more looking at people you've saved and knowing that you're the reason they're standing there alive and happy."

"I'm trying to look on the bright side," Kim said, "because right now it's damn hard to see anything but death!"

"Look," said Justin, "I don't know how long we've got before the bad guys come to inspect their handiwork. All I know is, this will work. I can't see any other way out of this. I don't see how we can contact Dimitria or anyone else. I don't have the technology to get our powers back or send us through time. But I can do this."

"You say there'll always be more Rangers," Kim said, "but doesn't that mean there'll always be more villains? If we do this now, then the Earth will be safe, not just for a little while but forever. Isn't that what we've been fighting for."

Tommy didn't reply immediately. He wandered a little way from the other two, looking down at the valley floor where the bodies of the other Rangers were visible. Justin and Kim waited for his decision. At last he turned back to them.

"No more Power Rangers," Tommy said, "No more getting blasted by monsters."

Justin gave a little grin, "No more having to find excuses why homework is late because I was too busy saving the world to do it."

Kim stood up, "No more having to interrupt my gymnastics training because someone's been attacked."

"No more getting trapped in my house for weeks because I've gotten stuck in Ranger form."

"No more having to rescue Bulk and Skull again and again," Justin said.

Kim looked at him, almost smiling now, "Are they still getting in trouble?"

"So," said Justin, "we're doing this?"

"We're doing this," Tommy answered, he held out his hand, "Let's save the world one last time." Each of the other two placed a hand on his, an echo of so many teams, so many other times. For all of them, they would do this.

"I'll need your power sources," Justin said. Tommy took the gem from his communicator. Kim reached for her morpher and removed the coin. Both handed them over to Justin, who had his Turbo key out.

"What will that do?" Tommy asked.

"They'll channel the power. They'll keep drawing on the morphing grid, trying to recharge, while the device drains away the power. Eventually, there'll be nothing left." Justin began doing something inside the thing, wiring up the three objects.

After a few minutes, he stood back and a glow came over the thing. As they watched, the metal of the key melted away, leaving only coin, crystal and gem, surrounded by a golden light as cosmic power was sucked through them... and destroyed.

"Now what happens?" Kim asked.

"We used power from the morphing grid to get back in time," said Justin, "when there's no more power left, the time distortion could collapse. History will be changed. We'll probably return to our own points in time, because as far as history is concerned we won't ever have travelled back."

"Probably?"

"I've never rewritten time before!"

"Will we remember?" Kim asked.

"I don't know," Justin replied, "I doubt it. History will have gone completely differently. We'll probably remember lives that never involved the Rangers."

"I don't want to forget," Kim said.

"It's possible we'll remember. As I've said, I've never done this before."

Tommy looked thoughtful, "Maybe there's a way we can leave ourselves a note. Do either of you have anything we can write with or on?"

Justin shook his head, but Kim pulled something from her pocket. "I've got this," she said, handing Tommy the photograph.

"A pen?" he queried. But of course no one thought of brining a pen to battle.

"I have an idea," he said, "is that thing alright being left?" He nodded towards the device, which was growing quite brightly now.

"Yeah," Justin said, "it'll just keep going until there's no energy left."

Tommy set off down the hill again, the other two following. He walked across the battleground until he found where one of his younger selves had fallen. He pressed his little finger to the teenager's wound, where there was still a little blood not quite congealed.

"Ew!" said Kim, "What are you doing?"

"Something marginally less gross than if I were using someone else's blood," Tommy answered, drawing his finger across the back of the photograph. It wasn't easy. The blood wasn't very liquid at this point and writing with a finger was quite tricky to keep legible. But he managed two words.

"It's better than nothing," he said, handing the photo back to Kim. She stared at it for a little while, then tore it in two.

"What are you doing?" Tommy asked.

"You should have something to," she answered, handing him half. Tommy glanced at it.

"You do realise the message is now telling you to forget?"

"It's obviously only half of the thing. I'll know there's something missing and I'll look for it. That way, we'll find each other again, even without the Rangers."

"Kim, we're not..." Tommy broke off. He clearly decided that whatever he was going to say wasn't worth shattering her hopes that the two of them could be together no matter what. "OK," he said, pocketing his half.

"Look!" Justin pointed up to where the Command Centre had been. Golden light was flowing down the cliff. Where it reached the battle field, the bodies began to disappear, the signs of combat vanishing.

"The timeline's changing," Justin said, "It's almost over."

He looked slightly nervous now it came to it. They all did. The three of them stood watching the light draw near them, waiting for whatever effects it would bring. At the last moment, just before it reached them, Kim grabbed Tommy and kissed him.

"Just in case," she said, as the light enveloped them.

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The screen went blank.

No one said anything for quite a while. The gathered crowd in the café watched where the images had been only moments ago, still trying to take in what they'd seen.

"We chose this," Kim said at last, "We chose to end the Rangers in order to destroy evil."

"I thought it was some evil plot," said Tommy, "but in the end it was us."

Kim had been expecting Billy's arrival to herald the end of this messed-up confusion. She'd thought he'd work out what had happened and put things right, make things the way they used to be.

Instead, she learned that she'd wanted this. The three surviving Rangers had stood together and decided that surrendering their powers forever was worth it, if it could destroy the bad guys they'd spent so long fighting. She, or at least a version of herself, had agreed to this, had chosen to lead this normal life. For so long, she'd felt guilty for trying to forget the Rangers and concentrate on gymnastics; now she discovered that that was what she'd intended.

"So," she asked, "what happens now?"


	17. Over

Justin was going back to college. Missing a day had been worthwhile to learn the truth, but if he had to live in this world he'd better get back to his studies. And his soccer.

Tommy, Jason and Billy had come to see him off. Hayley had to work and Kim used the excuse of needing to catch up on missed practice for the competition. Now Justin stood by the bus, bag in hand, saying goodbye to someone he'd never thought he'd see again. Tommy had invited him to come stay any time he wanted. Justin had returned the invitation, promising to send Tommy dates of soccer matches in case he wanted to watch. At least they could be certain it wouldn't be so long before their next meeting.

Jason and Billy stood a little way off. Justin gave them a smile and a little wave. They'd both come because they'd felt they ought to. Neither knew him. But still they were here, wanting to show support. No matter what happened, Justin had allies in this timeline as well as the old one.

"Here, I've got a little going-home present," said Tommy. He handed over a disk. "Billy recorded everything the scanner showed us, and it's not like we have to hide the Rangers any more. If your dad gives you a hard time about this, you can show him."

Justin thanked him, but wasn't sure his dad would believe him, even with this evidence. He was grateful though, that Tommy thought to try.

It was going to be weird. It had been weird enough leading a normal life when he'd come to believe that was all he'd had. Now he had to go to class and practice and know that everything he remembered was true. He had to live with the sight of Carlos standing between him and an attack. Dying for him.

"Time to go," called the driver.

"Take care of yourself," Tommy said, giving Justin a final hug.

"You too," Justin replied, "Wish Kim luck for me."

"I will do."

And then Justin was climbing the steps of the bus, finding a seat among the strangers. He sat by the window, waving to Tommy and the others as the bus pulled out. Heading home.

He'd come here hoping everything would be fixed, wondering if he might get his powers back. Now he knew that would never happen. His life would be ordinary from now until the day he died.

But at least he knew he wasn't crazy.

And at least he had friends he could trust with anything.

Coming here hadn't done what he'd hoped, but things were still better now than they had been before.

He watched Reefside disappearing as the bus drove on. But he'd be back.

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Jason had apologised. He'd admitted he was wrong not to listen to her and even more wrong to tell Billy not to tell her about the coin. He'd been meek and sincere and that just made things worse. Because she could understand, even sympathise with what he'd been thinking. And that meant she couldn't be mad at him any more. He'd told her he loved her and that he still wanted this to work.

She'd told him she needed to think.

She did love Jason. She cared about him, enjoyed spending time with him and had been happy with the thought of sharing the rest of her life with him. And then Tommy had walked back into her life, reminding her of a love she'd thought wasn't real. Was too good to ever be real.

But it had been.

Knowing that it was possible to love someone as much as she'd once loved Tommy, how could she settle for Jason? But how could she hope that things would work with Tommy after all this time?

He'd told her about the letter that had broken his heart, how she'd written to him and dumped him without warning. He'd moved on, found a new life, other girlfriends to follow her. She'd come to the conclusion that she'd never see him again and she'd moved on. She wasn't the same person she'd been in high school and neither was he. She barely knew him anymore.

She paused her practicing to get a drink of water. Her mind was no clearer, but at least she could feel she was getting the hang of her competition routines, despite the missed practice. When the competition came, she'd be ready. But that didn't help her decide between Jason and Tommy.

She went through her floor routine one last time before deciding that was enough for one day. She headed to the Cyberspace. Hayley had offered to let her stay at her place, since staying with Tommy was just weird and she wasn't ready to go back to the hotel room with Jason yet.

Billy was there, disassembling his scanner ready to transport it back to his lab. He was already planning the papers he'd write based on what he'd found out here. The girl who'd apparently been a Ranger was up on stage, singing. She was lucky, Kim decided. She'd never know what it was she'd lost. She would wake up in the middle of the night, aching for the strength and power of being a Ranger. She could be happy with normality.

Kim started to offer Billy a hand with his work, then she finally noticed the words she'd been hearing, sung by the girl on the stage.

"I'm over you," she sang, "you'd better believe it's true."

And it was true. Kim had got over Tommy a long time ago, she'd just needed to see him again to realise it. She would always love the guy she'd known in high school, but that didn't mean she was in love with Tommy now. Judging by the way he'd stopped her kissing him, he was over her.

She'd been looking at the decision entirely the wrong way.

"Are you alright?" Billy asked.

"Yeah," she answered, "Yeah, I think I might be. I'll see you later." And she turned and walked out of the café.

She knew where she had to go and what she had to do. After all, there was someone out there somewhere who worth dumping Tommy for, even when she was as madly in love with him as she had been. If she knew someone like that existed, how could she put up with giving her heart to someone whom she had to weigh up pros and cons about being with?

It was so obvious now that she saw the answer. Didn't make it any easier though.

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Tommy answered the knock on the door, slightly surprised to see Kim there. She looked slightly nervous. He guessed this was it; she'd made up her mind.

"I'm not going back to Jason," she said, "but that doesn't mean I want to be with you either." Tommy opened his mouth to speak, but she cut him off, "Please, let me finish. You and I had something really special, but it was still just a teenage fling. It wasn't something to build a life on."

It was easier to hear than he'd expected. He'd thought his heart would shatter inside him if she dumped him again. Instead, there was a quiet part of his mind telling him she was right. Too much had happened. Too much time had passed. They couldn't just start again where things had finished. Besides, he'd always be waiting for the day when she found someone better and he found another letter addressed to him, ready to strip his hopes away.

"I know now that the kind of love we had was real and I'll look out for it. Maybe one day I'll find the person I'm supposed to spend my life with, but until then, I'm not going to settle for second best."

"I understand," Tommy said.

"I'm glad. I hope we can keep in touch and stay friends."

"Yeah," Tommy agreed. She smiled at him, then stepped closer, rising on her toes to kiss him on the cheek. It reminded him of so many other occasions, but in a gentle, nostalgic way, with none of the heartbreak that used to be associated with such memories.

He smiled at her. Then he noticed movement over her shoulder and looked passed her, to where Jason was standing, staring at them.


	18. Friends

Author's note: The final chapter. Thank you for sticking with me this far. Special thanks to everyone who's reviewed. See you all again as soon as my brain comes up with more plot ideas that won't leave me alone.

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"I know now that the kind of love we had was real and I'll look out for it. Maybe one day I'll find the person I'm supposed to spend my life with, but until then, I'm not going to settle for second best."

Jason was close enough to hear Kim's words as she spoke to Tommy. He knew what she meant by them, much though he'd have loved to deny it. She meant him. She meant she didn't want to be with him. Jason watched Kim say farewell to Tommy, with gentle words and request for friendship and he knew that she'd be turning those same words on him in a moment.

He'd done everything he could for her. He followed her around the country so they could be together while she trained and competed. He'd helped her out in every way he could. He would have given his life for her if he'd had to.

And she could just walk away from that.

"Jason!" Kim turned from Tommy, saw him standing watching them. "It's not what it looks like," she said.

"I know," Jason replied, "I... I heard what you said." It was a battle to keep his voice calm, not to just break down there and then.

He loved her. But she didn't love him, at least not the way he'd wanted. He'd sometimes suspected, though he'd told himself he was just being paranoid. Now he knew. He wanted them to spend the rest of their lives together, but he wanted that to happen because Kim wanted it too. If she didn't love him, did he really want her to throw her hopes of happiness away for him? Well, yes, he did, but only because he thought he could make her happy.

"I do love you, Jason," Kim said, "but not enough and not in the right way. I care about you deeply and you've always been a great friend to me. When I didn't know my relationship with Tommy was real, being with you was the closest I came to love. But, I can't marry you, knowing that there are feelings beyond what I feel for you. I'm really, truly sorry."

"Me too," said Jason, still wrestling with tears. He was doing this for her, he told himself. "I want you to be happy," Jason said, "so I understand."

She stepped up to him and took his hands. She gave him a kiss on the cheek, just like the one she'd given Tommy. And then she walked away, a diamond engagement ring left in Jason's hand.

Jason watched her go, knowing this was the end, wondering if he could have done anything differently to prevent this. If he'd let Billy tell her about the coin, all those years ago, would she have not been angry with him? Would she have decided they were worth giving another chance? Maybe he could have shown her better how much he loved her, so that she'd love him back they way he'd dreamed she would. Maybe... Maybe he could have prevented this.

He leaned back against a tree, slamming his fist into the bark with an expletive.

Everything was so messed up. And the worst thing was, he knew that at least a part of it was his fault.

"You want a drink?"

Jason turned to Tommy, who was still standing in the doorway to his house. Jason wanted to be mad at him, to hate him for reminding Kim of their past. Jason knew that if Kim hadn't met him again, they'd still be together, the engagement ring still on her finger. It would be so easy to blame Tommy for everything.

But Tommy had loved Kim too once. And he'd just received the same farewell.

"Yeah," Jason said, "a drink would be good."

A few minutes later, he was sat in Tommy's lounge staring at a glass of whiskey. One glass wasn't going to make him any less miserable or help him forget Kim. A dozen or so might, but that just meant he'd wake up in the morning with a hangover as well as a broken heart. He could swallow the amber liquid and maybe it would help dull the pain for a time, but it couldn't heal the wound.

He felt the tears pricking at the back of his eyes again. He swore under his breath, turning his head from Tommy so the other man wouldn't see until he could regain control of himself.

"It's OK, bro," Tommy said, "I've seen you cry before." He was so familiar and friendly, which was just unnerving to Jason, who still felt like they were strangers.

"Because big, strong superheroes cry all the same," he said with a sarcastic laugh.

"It was just the once," Tommy said, "You were losing your powers, not sure how long they'd last, which battle would be your final fight, whether your powers would give out in combat and you'd get hurt. We'd nearly lost Billy quite recently and that had struck home to us all how dangerous our work was. And then you discovered your powers were failing. You couldn't just give up the fight while you still had them, but you knew that they could vanish at any minute." He spoke as though he'd somehow been inside Jason's head, knowing what it had felt like.

"You hid it well in front of the others," Tommy went on, "but you were scared. There was just one occasion where you let me see how it was affecting you, and you cried."

Jason stared at the whiskey glass as Tommy's words washed over him. They'd known each other so well. He'd seen it on the screen, watching the final farewells. If some other version of himself had known this guy well enough to cry in front of him, maybe something good could be salvaged from this chaos. He swallowed the whiskey; courage for what he was about to do.

"I came here to apologise," Jason said. "Over the past few days I've accused you, insulted you and hit you. And I know now I was wrong and you were right. I'm sorry."

"You were trying to protect Kim. I understand. I might have acted the same way in your place."

"What I want to say is, I'd like a fresh start."

Tommy smiled, "I'd like that."

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It was the day of the competition. One of the guys who'd been trying to sell Tommy a ticket for months was astonished when he bought seven. It would have been eight, but Jason already had one. Billy was still in town and wanted to watch, and Hayley wouldn't have missed it for the world. Tommy had decided to get tickets for the Dino Rangers as well. Kira, Trent and Ethan were all intrigued, asking him all sorts of questions about the Rangers, watching Billy's recording over and over. They'd shown it to Connor. Even if they weren't Rangers now, it seemed that close-knit friendship might be formed anyway.

They sat in the stands, watching Kim go through her routines. Tommy had thought her brilliant when they'd been at Angel Grove, though he admitted he might have been biased. Her skills then were nothing to her abilities now. Her grace and style were as beautiful as ever, but practice and dedication had built on them to give an outstanding performer.

They cheered and applauded her, but so did many of the others watching, who saw only her skill and didn't know the person. There was no doubt in any of their minds as they watched her that she would be placed first.

"What's going to happen with you two?" Tommy asked while some of the other competitors were performing.

"She's going back to Florida," Jason said, "and I haven't figured out where I'll go. I work in web design, so as long as I've got my laptop and a net connection, it doesn't matter."

"You could stay in Reefside."

"Maybe. How about you? What are you going to do?"

"Carry on teaching. It's what I came to Reefside to do; I never expected to become a Ranger again. I'll more free time now though, so I thought I might write a book."

"A book?"

"Yeah, about the Rangers. After all, we don't have to keep our experiences secret any more."

Jason gave a little laugh. "Maybe a TV show," he suggested, "Keep Billy's recording and you've got the special effects for the pilot already sorted."

Tommy laughed with him, "Maybe I will."

Then it was Kim's turn on the beam and they paused the conversation to watch her.

She came first.


	19. Announcement

A new science fiction thriller is coming out this month.

Child of the Hive


End file.
